Animal Welfare

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people have been prosecuted for cruelty to animals in  (a) England and  (b) Wales in each of the last 10 years.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 4 December 2006
	The following table shows the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to animal cruelty and neglect in England and Wales, 1996 to 2005(1).
	(1) These data, provided by, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, are on the principal offence basis.
	
		
			   England  Wales  Total 
			 1996 1,010 146 1,156 
			 1997 1,127 151 1,278 
			 1998 1,168 150 1,318 
			 1999 1,081 134 1,215 
			 2000 1,110 122 1,232 
			 2001 1,026 72 1,098 
			 2002 1,022 98 1,120 
			 2003 1,005 81 1,086 
			 2004 1,013 81 1,094 
			 2005 1,104 93 1,197 
			  Notes: 1. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 2. Staffordshire police force were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of analysis. 3. Over this period the majority of prosecutions were for cruelty to animals under the Protection of Animals Act 1911.

Animal Welfare

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what liaison there was between different divisions in his Department in drawing up the  (a) animal health and welfare strategy and  (b) first indicators on animal welfare.

Ben Bradshaw: I assume that by 'first indicatorson animal welfare' the hon. Member means those proposed in the evidence base that accompanied the publication of the animal health and welfare strategyin 2004.
	All the divisions with an interest in animal health and welfare were involved in the development of the strategy, the evidence base and the indicators.

Biodiversity

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many local area agreements have been developed which incorporate the protection or enhancement of biodiversity; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: To date, both the first and the second rounds of local area agreements (LAAs)have been signed off. DEFRA's analysis of thesecond round of LAAs has found that 16 out of the66 authorities negotiating in this round incorporated an outcome focussing on the protection and enhancement of biodiversity.
	We do not currently have any information on the number of authorities that included biodiversity outcomes in the first round of LAAs. For the current third round, my officials have told me that a number of authorities are currently in the process of developing outcomes focussed on the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. We will wait to see how these progress.

Climate Change

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the average annual rainfall was in  (a) Ely and  (b) Cambridgeshire in each of the last 20 years;
	(2)  what the annual average temperature was of (a) Ely and  (b) Cambridgeshire in each of the last20 years;
	(3)  what the average annual hours of sunshine were in  (a) Ely and  (b) Cambridgeshire in each of the last 20 years.

Ian Pearson: The following table shows the rainfall, mean temperature and hours of sunshine in Cambridgeshire for each year from 1986 to 2005. These data are area averages provided by the Met Office.
	
		
			   Rainfall (mm)  Mean temperature (( 0) C)  Sunshine (hours) 
			 1986 596.8 9.03 1548.3 
			 1987 636.6 9.26 1283.8 
			 1988 580.7 9.94 1437.7 
			 1989 515.2 10.79 1763.9 
			 1990 408.0 10.99 1728.3 
			 1991 433.0 9.76 1421.8 
			 1992 671.0 10.19 1435.7 
			 1993 682.3 9.82 1428.7 
			 1994 561.8 10.61 1584.4 
			 1995 507.6 10.65 1749.9 
			 1996 411.6 9.28 1566.4 
			 1997 514.4 10.75 1590.5 
			 1998 674.8 10.58 1372.9 
			 1999 618.0 10.95 1633.3 
			 2000 726.8 10.64 1463.9 
			 2001 705.4 10.25 1551.3 
			 2002 637.8 10.95 1438.6 
			 2003 484.5 10.87 1794.4 
			 2004 628.8 10.89 1466.9 
			 2005 482.5 10.77 1495.0 
		
	
	The following table shows the rainfall in Ely, and mean temperature and hours of sunshine in Denver, for each year from 1986 to 2005. These data are from individual Met Office monitoring stations. Denver is about 21 km from Ely. It is the closest station to Ely for which 20 years of temperature and sunshine data are available.
	
		
			   Station: 
			   Ely, Hervey Close  Denver 
			   Rainfall (mm)  Mean temperature (( 0) C)  Sunshine (hours) 
			 1986 628.6 8.88 1596.4 
			 1987 624.7 9.17 1345.3 
			 1988 614.2 9.59 1477.3 
			 1989 508.5 10.57 1763.4 
			 1990 396.0 10.74 1737.0 
			 1991 399.2 9.63 1430.8 
			 1992 654.8 10.18 1453.1 
			 1993 700.7 9.73 1411.4 
			 1994 546.9 10.57 1549.6 
			 1995 519.1 10.59 1716.8 
			 1996 426.5 9.31 1628.8 
			 1997 552.3 10.77 1610.6 
			 1998 689.9 10.50 1356.6 
			 1999 655.5 10.90 1672.7 
			 2000 689.2 10.67 1521.4 
			 2001 726.3 9.89 1554.6 
			 2002 671.9 10.98 1423.8 
			 2003 504.1 10.90 1788.7 
			 2004 644.9 10.87 1459.0 
			 2005 497.3 10.76 1446.9

Correspondence

Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Landscape and Rural Affairs to reply to the letter dated 8 November 2006 on Backdale and Wagers Flat from the hon. Member for West Derbyshire.

Barry Gardiner: I apologise for the delay. A reply was sent on 6 December 2006.

Energy Efficiency

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if he will assess the merits of subsidising the cost of energy saving light bulbs for low-income households; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what progress has been made towards the target of ensuring that every home switches at least three bulbs to energy saving bulbs; and what steps the Government plan to take to ensure that people on low incomes are able to make this switch.

Ian Pearson: Energy efficient light bulbs are already cost-effective purchases for most consumers. However, the Government recognise the need to accelerate market take-up and has a range of policies which aim to achieve this. There is, however, no target to ensure that every home switches at least three bulbs to energy saving bulbs.
	Under the Energy Efficiency Commitment, electricity and gas suppliers are required to meet targets for the promotion of improvements in domestic energy efficiency. They do this by encouraging and assisting household consumers to take up energy efficient measures, including compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) which are often offered to consumers at subsidised prices. We announced last year the results of the first three year phase of the commitment which saw around 10 million British households, six million of which were on low incomes, benefit from energy saving measures delivered by the energy suppliers. These included about 40 million CFLs, 60 per cent. of which were distributed to a priority group of low-income consumers, mostly for free. CFLs continue to be promoted under the current phase of the Energy Efficiency Commitment.
	Low energy light bulbs are one of the measures that can be installed under the Government's Warm Front scheme, which is our main programme for tackling fuel poverty in England. Further information on this scheme is available on the DEFRA website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/energy/hees/03.htm

Energy Efficiency

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether steps are being taken to restrict the sale of non-energy efficient incandescent light bulbs in the UK; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps his Department has taken to introduce more rigorous standards for reducing energy waste from light bulbs; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The Government remain fully committed to raising product standards and encouraging consumers to use the most efficient products available. In the Energy Review, the Government made clear their intention to work with other governments, manufacturers and retailers, to seek to phase out the least efficient light bulbs.
	DEFRA's Market Transformation Programme (MTP) supports measures such as the mandatory EU energy labelling scheme which, for domestic light bulbs, has been mandatory since 1 January 2001. Minimum energy performance standards have resulted in the removal of the most inefficient fluorescent lamp ballasts from the market. (Lamp ballasts are required to control the current passing through fluorescent discharge tubes, which dissipate energy and can affect the light output efficiency of the fluorescent tube itself).
	For further information I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee, West (Mr. McGovern) on 31 October 2006,  Official Report, column 272W.

Energy Efficiency

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to ensure that all Government buildings and departments replace standard light bulbs with energy saving light bulbs; and whether an estimate has been made of potential savings from such a policy.

Ian Pearson: Departments have adopted targets to reduce energy use across the central Government estate of buildings, with the aim of making Government offices carbon neutral by 2012, and to reduce the Government's total emissions from buildings by 30 per cent. by 2020.
	To help achieve these targets, Departments are committed to buying energy efficient equipment, including lighting, for its buildings. Current procurement standards for replacement light bulbs require A-rated performance, which corresponds with compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) technologies. New lighting systems must comply with the same energy efficiency design criteria as are required for enhanced capital allowances available to businesses investing in approved energy saving technologies.
	These measures are designed to ensure lighting systems and all standard light bulbs are replaced by the most efficient alternatives. Our estimate is that this has the potential for lighting savings of over 160 GWh per year once all lighting had been improved, equivalent to over 16,000 tonnes of CO2. Most of the savings will come through using more efficient fluorescent lamps and ballasts, and installing lighting controls.

Northumbria Water

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will investigate the impact on churches in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle of Northumbria Water's proposals to change the charging method for surface water draining.

Ian Pearson: Ofwat, the economic regulator of the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales, is responsible for approving companies' charges schemes.
	Sewerage service charges are increasing for some Northumbrian Water non-household customers, and reducing for others, due to the transfer from a rateable value based charging method to a site-area based charging method for the surface water drainage (SWD) element of the sewerage charge.
	In 2003 Ofwat carried out a review of SWD charges and published its conclusions in a letter to all companies (RD35/03). Ofwat advocated a move towards site-area based charging for non-household customers. It considers that charging by site area is the fairest method of charging as it results in more cost-reflective charges for non-household customers.
	Northumbrian Water are phasing in site-area based charging for SWD for existing non-household customers over three years. By 2008-09 charging will be based wholly on site area. This is designed to phase the impact on customers.
	Ofwat encourages companies to offer partial rebates to customers where it can be shown that water does not drain to a public sewer.

Pig Industry

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent of the presence of MRSA in pigs in  (a) the UK and  (b) imported pork; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: DEFRA policy with respect to meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in animals is guided and advised by the DEFRA Antimicrobial Resistance Co-ordination (DARC) group, and specifically by the MRSA subgroup of DARC that was established in 2004 in response to increasing interest in this area. Following consultation with the subgroup and other interested parties, DEFRA has commissioned a research project, being conducted by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, to test all clinical isolates of  Staphylococcus aureus from cattle over a two-year period, for meticillin resistance. This work began in January 2006 and, to date, no MRSA isolates have been identified. DEFRA has also commissioned research, currently under way, investigating the risk factors for MRSA-related disease in companion animals.
	The inclusion of other livestock species, including pigs, in the remit of this project has been considered by the subgroup but has not been taken forward due to little evidence of the occurrence of MRSA in other food-producing animals in the UK, and due to the fact that  S. aureus is not generally considered to be a major pathogen in livestock species other than cattle, where it is a significant cause of mastitis.
	There is no current evidence that food-producing animals form a reservoir of MRSA infection in the UK, although the DARC MRSA subgroup will keep the situation under continued review.
	The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is not aware of any UK surveillance of imported pork or other meats for the presence of MRSA. An FSA-funded survey to determine the prevalence of various pathogens and indicator organisms on raw red meat on retail sale is currently being undertaken across the UK. Both UK-produced and imported pork is included in this survey and, while enumeration of  S. aureus is being undertaken, isolates are not being screened for antimicrobial resistance.
	The FSA's advice on cooking of pork and pork products recommends that they should be thoroughly cooked. As there is no evidence to suggest that MRSA is more heat tolerant than other  S. aureus, cooking would be expected to destroy any MRSA if it was present on raw meat.

River Severn: Flooding

Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the pallet flood defences for the Wribbenhall side of the River Severn at Bewdley were acquired; when they were deployed; for what reasons they were not deployed  (a) on and  (b) leading up to the flooding on 10 December 2006; what arrangements are in place to inform householders of (i) flood risks and (ii) flood protection deployment; and for what reason householders were not informed of the situation on 10 December 2006.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 14 December 2006
	The Environment Agency (EA) acquired the temporary defences early in 2006. They carried out a 'dry trial' at the site in June and employed consultants Atkins Limited to review the performance of the defences.
	A draft report—"River Severn Temporary Flood Barriers-Interim Assessment of the Installation Locations"—issued by Atkins in September, raised concerns about the high risk of the barriers moving under certain conditions. The report recommended greater consideration of this matter and a more detailed review of each of the deployment locations. Further work is under way, but the health and safety issues at Bewdley are not yet resolved and until then the EA's view is that it would not be in the interests of public safety to deploy the defences at Beales Corner.
	The EA notified all affected residents of their position on 1 December via the Bewdley Residents' Flood Committee. Householders were also informed that the EA is optimistic that Wribbenhall will be protected from flooding in early 2007.
	The EA issued a Flood Watch on 6 December to317 householders, and a Flood Warning for the River Severn on 8 December to 279 householders through Flood Warnings Direct and local radio. Wyre Forest District Council were on site at Beales Corner with sand bags and door guards. The demountable defences on Severnside North and Severnside South were successfully deployed, protecting nearly 50 properties from flooding.

Congestion Charging

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on introducing congestion charging in the West Midlands.

Stephen Ladyman: The West Midlands Metropolitan authorities have been awarded £3.2 million of Transport Innovation Fund pump priming funding to explore the use of demand management solutions, including road pricing, to tackle their congestion problems.
	Their initial feasibility study, 'Gridlock or Growth', published on 22 September 2006, set out the impact that different solutions, including road pricing, would have. Clearly there is more work to be done by the West Midlands and the Department for Transport will continue to work closely with them as they develop their thinking further.

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget was used in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Gillian Merron: There is no specific, centrally held, departmental budget reserved for employing workers on a consultancy basis.
	Responsibilities for delivering objectives set through the departmental business plan and the budgets associated with those objectives are delegated to the relevant business unit. Each business unit is allocated an overall budget, from which they determine the proportion to be allocated, including that required for any consultancy support, to deliver those objectives. Budgets are monitored as part of the Department's resource management and business planning processes.
	Detailed information on consultancy budgets can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department is able to identify spend on external consultants and advisers since it was created in May 2002. These are shown as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2002-03 227.5 
			 2003-04 239.5 
			 2004-05 193.3 
			 2005-06 72.1

Departmental Staff

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many temporary employees were contracted to work for his Department in 2005-06; and what the total cost of such employees was in  (a) 2005-06 and  (b) 1997-98.

Gillian Merron: The Department was formed in May 2002. The information for the number of temporary employees for 2005-06, for which information is available is as follows:
	
		
			   Number of staff/cost (£) 
			 Department for Transport (c) 86 temporary agency workers 
			 Maritime and Coastguard Agency (1)— 
			 Vehicle Certification Agency (1)— 
			 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (1,2)— 
			 Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency 18 temporary agency employees in 2005-06 at a total cost of 278,784 
			 Highways Agency 164 contractors in 2005-06 at a total cost of 5,465,642 
			 Driving Standards Agency 86 temporary employees in 2005-06 at a total cost 1,473,000 
			 Government Car and Despatch Agency 1 temporary employee in 2005-06 at a total cost of 21,490 
			 (1) No information available. (2) The annual report provides figures for agency/consultancy support.

Drink Driving

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has made an assessment of the  (a) drink-driving limit and  (b) penalties for exceeding the limit in each EU country.

Stephen Ladyman: The drink-driving limit is continually kept under review. At the present time the Government are not minded to change it. We believe the emphasis must be on effective enforcement against drivers who are over the existing limit.
	For an offence at the United Kingdom legal BAC limit of 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, the penalties in most EU countries are not as severe asin the United Kingdom, and that for offences below80 mg the penalties are significantly lighter and generally only involve a fine.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what effect the Sassar worm has had on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's electronic mapping system.

Stephen Ladyman: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency's network was infected by the Sasser virus in May 2004. The outbreak was contained within a few hours and no lasting damage was caused to the HM Coastguard's systems, which includes access to maps and charts.

Public Transport

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many increases in train ticket prices there were in Essex in each of the last 10 years.

Tom Harris: There will have been one major change in fares each year, although small adjustments may have been made at the June and September fares setting rounds in each year.

Rail Fares

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the price range was of a  (a) 1(st) class,  (b) 2(nd) class and  (c) sleeper return train ticket between London and Edinburgh in each year since 1997; and what the rail subsidy from the public purse was in each year.

Tom Harris: The Department for Transport does not hold fares information for every year between 1997 to 2006. However, fares in 1996 were as follows:
	
		
			  1996 
			  £ 
			   Cheapest  Most expensive 
			  Daytime trains:   
			 1(st) class one way 98.00 98.00 
			 1(st) class return 98.00 196.00 
			 2(nd) class one way 28.50 68.00 
			 2(nd) class return 29.00 130.00 
			
			  Sleepers:   
			 1(st) class one way 131.00 131.00 
			 1(st) class return 164.00 262.00 
			 2(nd) class one way 88.00 95.00 
			 2(nd) class return 116.00 157.00 
		
	
	Fares for travel in 2006 may be found at www.nationalrail.co.uk, or (for Caledonian Sleeper bargain berth fares) at www.firstscotrail.com. Inflation was approximately 17.3 per cent. over this period. Subsidy is not attributable to individual fares or journeys.

Secure Stations

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many stations with secure station status have had their designation removed since 1 December 2004; and which stations have been designated under the scheme since that date.

Tom Harris: Since 1 December 2004, a total of 410 rail stations have been accredited under the secure stations scheme. Of this total, 230 are first time accreditations and 180 are re-accreditations. No stations have had their secure status withdrawn since the launch of the scheme in 1998.
	A list of the accredited and re-accredited stations since 1 December 2004 has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Afghanistan

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what effect the security environment in Afghanistan is having on his Department's operations in the country; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: The security situation across much of Afghanistan is broadly stable. However in the south, particularly in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, Government of Afghanistan authority and the rule of law has not yet been established. As a consequence the security situation is much more fragile.
	In much of the country, therefore, security is not the primary constraint to development. However in the south, poor security does present difficulties for delivering development, particular for the agencies which donors and the Government of Afghanistan employ to implement their programmes. The ability of those agencies to operate is constrained by concerns about the security of their staff.
	Despite the security constraints in Helmand, the UK has committed about $9 million to over 80 quick impact projects in that province, and will see the start very soon of the construction of 200 wells and49 kilometres of road in an around Lashkar Gah, under the DFID funded Helmand Agricultural and Rural Development Programme.
	Afghanistan remains one of the most fragile of states in which DFID works, but it is also one of the poorest countries in the world. Although in most of the country security is adequate for development to take place, that is not uniform across the country. We are working closely with others in the UK and with international partners to ensure that both security and development in those areas can improve.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the Government have spent on projects promoting human rights in Burma in each of the past five years.

Gareth Thomas: DFID bilateral aid spent on supporting projects promoting human rights in Burma for the last five years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Expenditure on human rights 
			  Fiscal year  £ 
			 2002-03 3,593,223 
			 2003-04 1,444,279 
			 2004-05 2,429,873 
			 2005-06 2,451,521 
			 2006-07 2,370,562 
			  Note: These figures include the provision of basic services to refugees and other conflict-affected people; the protection work of the International Committee of the Red Cross in prisons and in ethnic minority areas; and the provision of emergency relief to internally-displaced people.

Jamaica

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the recent outbreak of malaria in Jamaica.

Gareth Thomas: DFID is monitoring the situation closely.
	The Jamaica newspaper, The Gleaner reported that the first case of malaria was uncovered on 6 November. As of the 12 December 2006, the number of confirmed cases was 61. Of these, 43 people have been treatedand discharged from hospital. Cases have been concentrated in West Kingston and in St. Catherine.
	All cases have been found to be of the 'falciparum type' and to be sensitive to the antimalarial medication chloroquine. The local health authorities are treating mosquito breeding sites and are undertaking a public information campaign.
	There is a backlog of samples taken, but not yet tested and the Ministry of Health has now sent some samples to Canada and the US in order to speed up testing. The total number of malaria cases may exceed the 61 confirmed cases.
	Updated FCO travel advice recommends travellers to Jamaica to seek medical advice about the malaria risk in Jamaica before travelling, to take precautions to avoid being bitten while there, and to promptly seek medical care in the event of developing a fever or flu-like illness.

Agency Personnel: Scotland

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much of its personnel budget for 2005-06 the Disposal Services Agency spent in Scotland in  (a) monetary terms and  (b) as a percentage of the total personnel budget; how much was spent for each category in 2004-05; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: The figures requested are as follows:
	
		
			  Personnel costs for DSA staff based in Scotland 
			   Amount (£000)  Percentage 
			 2004-05 148.8 5.1 
			 2005-06 193.9 4.3 
		
	
	These figures do not include travel and subsistence costs.

Mental Health

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies his Department has  (a) commissioned,  (b) funded and  (c) undertaken in the past five years into the mental health needs of service personnel and veterans; and how many service personnel and veterans have such needs.

Derek Twigg: The most significant recent studies relating to mental health are:
	A major research study into the physical and psychological health of personnel who were deployed to Iraq on Operation Telic is being conducted by King's College London. This work began in 2003 and entered its second three-year phase in September 2006. The first two scientific papers resulting from this work were published in May 2006 and showed that there had been no substantial increase in symptomatic ill health among regular personnel from participation in the operation. There was evidence for a small though statistically significant mental health effect among reserve personnel, however, and changes in the provision of mental healthcare for reservists have been made to address this issue.
	An independent charity, the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS), was commissioned by the MOD to review the mental healthcare available to UK veterans and further work is now underway to take forward the HASCAS recommendations.
	The Department is funding a one-year study bythe Centre for Suicide Prevention and National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness at the University of Manchester. The purpose of this work is to determine the rates of suicide among UK veterans and to compare them with rates among serving personnel and in the general population. The study began in June 2006.
	A compendium of Defence medical research has been maintained since 2004. The following table shows those mental health studies that have appeared within the compendium. Where an item has appeared more than once in different versions, only the most up-to-date entry has been included. The compendium includes personal degree research as well as studies commissioned departmentally.
	
		
			  Title of study  Status of report  Expected date of completion  Comment 
			 Deliberate Self-harm Survey Withdrawn — Unable to repeat earlier study iaw Data Protection Act 1998 
			 Community Mental Health Nursing — August 2006 BSc(Hons) Community Mental Health Nursing 
			 Mental Health Nursing — August 2006 BSc(Hons) Mental Health Nursing 
			 Mental Health Nursing — December 2010 PhD 
			 Physical and psychological health of personnel deployed on Op TELIC Complete Autumn 2006 Funded by Treasury Contingency Fund (TCF) 
			 TELIC—Civilian Health Study Under way September 2006 Funded by TCF 
			 Delayed-onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Ongoing October 2007 — 
			 Accompanied and Unaccompanied Personnel Stress Survey Preparation for submission to ethics committee 2008 — 
			 Psychological Effects of Chemical Weapons: The Impact of World War One Current End 2007 Funded in part by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 
			 Cohort Study of Stress in the Naval Service Protocol about to be submitted January 2012 — 
			 High Risk Behaviours After Operational Deployments (Op TELIC) Current Late 2006 — 
			 RCT to Evaluate RM Trauma Management Programme (TRiM) in the RN Current Mid 2007 Funded by Research Acquisition Organisation (RAO) 
			 Post-Operational Psychological Disorder: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Help Seeking Behaviour Current August 2007 — 
			 Reviews of Military Mental Health Care, Screening, Debriefing and Treatment of PTSD Current Ongoing — 
			 Evaluation of Internet-based Therapy for Traumatic Stress In planning — — 
			 Psychological and Behavioural Responses to tie London Bombs Current Completed Funded by Home Office 
			 Psychological Impact of peacekeeping Operations on UK Military Personnel Current August 2007 — 
			 Attitudinal changes towards stress in TRiM trained personnel Data Analysis 2006 Part of DClinPsych Degree 
			 A study to examine the effectiveness of pre- and post-deployment mental health briefings on the mental health of UK forces before, during and after deployment to Afghanistan (OpHerrick) Data collection commencing September 2006 End 2008 — 
			 Use of Computer-Based Treatment (CBT) for Depression Protocol submitted 2006 — 
			 Health and Wellbeing of UK Armed Forces Personnel Deployed on Op TELIC Completed Autumn 2006 — 
			 RCT to Evaluate RM Trauma Management Programme (TRiM) in the RN Current Mid 2007 — 
			 Social and Psychological Dysfunction in an Military corrective training centre Current Current — 
			 Stigma and the military: evaluation of psycho educational programme to effect cultural change in the Naval Service Data analysis Completed Part of DClinPsych Degree 
			 An Investigation into the Practice of Mental Healthcare during Operational Deployments: Psychosocial Implications for Military Mental Health Professionals Completed July 2006 Completed Funded by NHS 
			 Suicide in personnel who lave left the UK Armed Forces Under way July 2007 — 
			 Audit of Uniform within departments of Community Mental Health (DCMHs)/Clinicians — June 2006 — 
			 Audit of Uniform within DCMHs Current December 2006 — 
			 A study of suicides during Op Banner 1969-2007 Current 2007 Completion after Op Banner completion 
			 Audit of mental health need: Home service Royal Irish disbandment Current August 2007 — 
			 Pre-operational Stress Briefing—Does it have any effect? Data acquisition 2008 — 
			 Post-discharge Mentoring of Vulnerable Service Leavers Data collection September 2004-August 05 November 2006 — 
			 Psychology of Addiction — December 2005 Diploma in Addictions Counselling 
			 Prevention of Suicide and Self-harm Among Army Personnel Draft final report prepared — Funded by Dept of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College 
			 Pre-Service Vulnerability Factors and Physical/Psychological Adaptation to Service Life Current August 2006 — 
			 Study to Investigate Levels of Psychological Problems in Soldiers Following an Emergency Operational Deployment Completed Awaiting publication — 
			 Psychosis in the British Military; a Follow-up Study Awaiting ethical approval 2005 — 
			 Mental Health — September 2006 BSc Community Mental Health 
			 Managing Stress Amongst Military Personnel Following deployment — 31 August 2005 BMedSc Occ Health 
			 Minor Mental Illness Following Gulf War 2 Completed—awaiting publication — — 
			 Longitudinal Studies of the Psychological Effects of Operational Deployments Ongoing — — 
			 Study into Self-Harm Ongoing March 2005 — 
			 Alcohol Use in the British Army Data collection March- May 2005 July 2005 Funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) 
			 Alcohol Culture in the Army Current August 2006 Funded by JRF 
			 Epidemiology of Mental Disorders in the Three Services Planned tba — 
			 Evaluation of a mental health Risk Assessment Tool in Op TELIC Planned tba — 
			 Psychiatric Pre and Post Deployment Screening Op TELIC Ongoing Autumn 2004 — 
			 Married persons stress study Protocol 2004-05 — 
			 Psychiatric Morbidity amongst RCDM personnel—an observational study Internal Study Summer 2004 — 
			 Study of physical and psychological health (Op TELIC) Ongoing December 2004 (Phase II) — 
			 Demographic Review of Reservist Psychiatric Casevac Op TELIC 1 Ongoing February 2004 — 
			 Qualitative study to identify precipitating factors in soldiers who have deliberated self harmed Bid submitted FY 2004-05 — 
			 Grief reactions of military critical care nurses to patient death. — n/k MSc Nursing 
		
	
	The research by Kings College to gain further understanding of the extent of mental health problems encountered by those who have served on Op Telic showed the relation between mental health outcomes and deployment, stratified by regular/reservist status, to be as follows:
	
		
			   Common mental disorder (GHQ-12)  PTSD (PCL-C) 
			   Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			  Reservists 
			 Era(1) 128/787 16 22/780 3 
			 Telic 1 206/782 26 46/766 6 
			  
			  Regulars 
			 Era(1) 943/4,694 20.1 171/4,676 3.7 
			 Telic 1 747/3,849 19 155/3,847 4 
			 (1) UK service personnel serving in the armed forces on 31 March 2003, but not in the Telic 1 group. 
		
	
	The results of this research show the numbers who have self-reported indicators of mental ill-health. It does not mean that these individuals are severely ill, nor would necessarily regard themselves as being in need of treatment. Also, while more of those reservists who served in Iraq reach the indicator threshold than those who did not serve in Iraq, this should be looked at in the context of the general adult UK population where the same level of indicators of common mental illness have been detected in over 30 per cent.

Phase 2 Training

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many trainers will deliver Phase 2 training; and what the trainer student ratio will be in  (a) five years,  (b) 10 years and  (c) 15 years time;
	(2)  what percentage of Phase 2 skills training for the armed forces is delivered by  (a) serving military personnel,  (b) ex-military personnel and  (c) others;
	(3)  how many military trainers for Phase 2 skills training for the armed forces are deployed in  (a) Scotland,  (b) South Wales,  (c) West Midlands and  (d) South East England;
	(4)  what the current trainer to trainee ratios are for Phase 2 skills training for the armed forces.

Derek Twigg: The future Phase 2 supervisory requirement will depend on how training is to be delivered. Defence is constantly seeking to modernise the delivery of training taking into account options of distributed training, E learning and simulated training. Improved learning methodology may also determine how training will be delivered in the future. Future student to instructor ratios in 5, 10 and 15 years time will be determined by the nature of the activity being undertaken and therefore it is not possible to anticipate what these will be. However, in seeking to partner with industry to develop innovative training solutions, the Defence Training Review programme includes the following requirement: In Phase 2 there must be sufficient military instructors so that at least 40 per cent. of the class contact time (combining specialist and non specialist training) is with military instructors, and a minimum of 25 per cent. of the specialist training programmed periods must be taught by a military instructor.
	Data on geographic dispersal or the percentage of Phase 2 skills training delivered by military, ex-military and contracted instructors are not routinely held by the services and MOD does not have access to information on the background of contracted staff.
	Earlier this year the MOD revised its supervisory care policy in order to focus attention on reducingthe risks to trainees. The policy mandates the determination of a supervisory care directive, underpinned by a Unit Commander's Risk Assessment. The policy mandates that minimum levels of supervision are determined from the Unit Commander's Risk Assessment and must be articulated against the relevant serials during the working day, out of hours, weekend and leave periods. The supervisory provision will change throughout the day and night dependent on the activities being undertaken. For example, in the classroom environment one instructor might supervise up to30 trainees but this ratio could reduce to 1:4 for a higher risk activity or for practical reasons and down to 1:1 for flying training. While average weekday ratios are no longer centrally collated, training establishments are subject to audit and evaluation of their supervisory care regimes and implementation of the supervisory policy.
	The implementation of supervisory policy is subject to audit and evaluation by service and defence teams and additionally the duty of care and welfare provision is currently subject to external inspection by the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI). The ALI is currently engaged in conducting a series of visits to training establishments.

Public Opinion Research

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on commissioning public opinion research in each of the last five years.

Derek Twigg: We want to hear what people have to say about defence activities and policies and we carry out occasional public opinion research to this end. The research is subject to the usual strict rules that spending must represent good value for the tax payer and must not be used for party political purposes. Information on the total cost of public opinion research carried out by the Ministry of Defence and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	However, the cost of research sponsored from within the central media and communications division, which surveys public opinion on major defence issues, in each of the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  £000 
			 2001-02 82 
			 2002-03 25 
			 2003-04 131 
			 2004-05 145 
			 2005-06 253 
			  Note: These costs are inclusive of VAT

Separated Service Guidelines

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel in the  (a) Navy,  (b) Army and  (c) Air Force exceeded guidelines for separated service in each year since 2001; and what assessment he has made of trends in those numbers over that period.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 7 December 2006
	Separated service is recorded as an average percentage of the total trained strength. Separated service has only been recorded for all three services since 2002. Set out in the following table is separated service figures for each service since then.
	
		
			  Percentage of total personnel who have breached individual harmony 
			  Year and quarter  Royal Navy  Army  Royal Air Force 
			  2002-03
			 Q1 <1 No record 5.3 
			 Q2 <1 No record 5.4 
			 Q3 <1 No record 5.1 
			 Q4 <1 No record 5.0 
			 
			  2003-04
			 Q1 <1 No record 6.8 
			 Q2 <1 No record 6.2 
			 Q3 <1 No record 6.2 
			 Q4 <1 18.1 5.4 
			 
			  2004-05
			 Q1 <1 17.0 3.6 
			 Q2 <1 16.8 3.8 
			 Q3 <1 15.5 3.6 
			 Q4 <1 15.5 3.9 
			 
			  2005-06
			 Q1 <1 15.6 4.1 
			 Q2 <1 15.3 4.1 
			 Q3 <1 15.1 4.2 
			 Q4 <1 14.5 3.9 
			 
			 2006-07
			 Q1 <1 14.0 2.9 
			 Q2 <1 14.0 1.7 
		
	
	In line with Second Sea Lord's personal functional standards, harmony breaches for the Royal Navy are minimal; the RAF's latest figure puts harmony within target and although the Army's separated service figures breach harmony, the percentage has been gradually reducing as future army structure and Northern Ireland normalisation have taken effect.

Working Hours

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average working hours were for personnel in the Army in each year since 2001.

Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally. However, the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA) carry out a Continuous Survey of Working Patterns which is used to provide estimates of average hours worked. A time series of these estimates from 200-02 to 2005-06 are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Survey estimates of average weekly hours worked by personnel in the Army 
			  Financial year  Army 
			 2001-02 48.0 
			 2002-03 47.8 
			 2003-04 48.7 
			 2004-05 48.4 
			 2005-06 46.9 
			  Note:  The figures are derived from individual sample surveys conducted each year and as such will be subject to the normal statistical variation. Analysis comparing figures between years are available in the Continuous Working Patterns Survey reports, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Ordination of Women

Robert Key: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners how many  (a) parishes and  (b) parochial church councils (PCCs) in each diocese have passed (i) Resolution A and (ii) Resolution B under Section 3 of the Priest (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993; and how many PCCs have petitioned for extended episcopal ministry.

Stuart Bell: Only parochial church councils are able legally to pass the resolutions in question. Therefore the answer I am about to give only answers part  (b) of the hon. Gentleman's question. Figures were last collected in 2004.
	
		
			  Resolutions passed by (b) PCCs under section 3 of the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993—as at 31 March 2004 
			   PCCs 
			  Diocese  (i) Passing resolution A  (ii) Passing resolution B  Having petitioned for extended episcopal ministry 
			 Bath and Wells 16 16 7 
			 Birmingham 11 13 7 
			 Blackburn 49 69 4 
			 Bradford 7 8 2 
			 Bristol 9 9 3 
			 Canterbury 13 20 3 
			 Carlisle 14 25 2 
			 Chelmsford 38 45 16 
			 Chester 15 29 8 
			 Chichester 32 35 1 
			 Coventry 12 16 6 
			 Derby 17 19 II 
			 Durham 39 40 19 
			 Ely 8 10 5 
			 Exeter 12 22 31 
			 Gloucester 19 20 2 
			 Guildford 5 6 3 
			 Hereford 2 2 0 
			 Leicester 14 14 2 
			 Lichfield 38 38 8 
			 Lincoln 23 26 4 
			 Liverpool 13 18 2 
			 London 70 73 30 
			 Manchester 39 48 18 
			 Newcastle 21 25 0 
			 Norwich 15 19 2 
			 Oxford 19 28 10 
			 Peterborough 14 19 2 
			 Portsmouth 12 17 5 
			 Ripon and Leeds 7 9 3 
			 Rochester 15 17 10 
			 St. Albans 14 17 7 
			 St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich 12 14 6 
			 Salisbury 8 20 2 
			 Sheffield 34 37 20 
			 Sodor and Man 1 1 1 
			 Southwark 21 33 17 
			 Southwell 7 14 5 
			 Truro 23 22 4 
			 Wakefield 18 18 9 
			 Winchester 9 13 5 
			 Worcester 5 5 3 
			 York 31 37 10 
			 Europe 9 16 0 
			 Total 810 1,002 315

Community Investment Fund

Jeffrey M Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which organisations in each district council area have been successful in securing funding from the Community Investment Fund in the latest round of applications.

David Hanson: The Community Investment Fund (CIF) was established under "Positive Steps: The Government's Response to Investing Together", to deliver a longer-term, strategic commitment to supporting community development, to help deliver change to those most in need. The Community Investment Fund will be directed towards the support of longer-term funding for core operating costs. An initial budget of £5 million is available to the CIF over three years. 137 applications for funding were received and following detailed assessment some 36 organisations have proceeded to the final stage of economic appraisal. To date six of these organisations have successfully completed this process and have been offered funding contracts. These are: Ballybeen Women's Centre and Greenway Women's Centre (Castlereagh council), Strathfoyle Women's Activity Group and Foyle Women's Information Network (Derry city council), Footprints Women's Centre (Lisburn council) and Chrysalis Women's Centre (Craigavon council). Other economic appraisals are underway.

Social Fund

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many community care grants from the Social Fund were awarded in each of the26 district council areas in each of the last three years.

David Hanson: It is not possible to provide the information in the format requested as Social Fund data cannot he broken down by district council. The following table shows the number of community care grants from the Social Fund that were awarded in each of the six social security districts in each of the last three years.
	
		
			  District  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 North 4,285 3,673 3,765 
			 South 4,741 4,314 4,133 
			 East Down 3,801 3,687 3,652 
			 West 5,922 5,960 5,912 
			 Belfast North and East Antrim 4,912 4,826 5,062 
			 Belfast West and Lisburn 5,089 5,035 5,718 
			 Total 28,750 27,495 28,242

EU Civil Service

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps her Department is taking to promote diversity and equality throughout the EU Civil Service.

Geoff Hoon: The Government are committed to helping UK nationals who wish to make a career in the EU institutions and believes that, just as the UK Civil Service should be representative of British society, so the staff in the EU institutions should reflect the diversity of the entire EU.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works closely with the Cabinet Office to encourage a diverse range of UK candidates to apply to work in the EU institutions. For example, by regularly participating in recruitment fairs throughout the UK.

European Anti-Fraud Office

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on progress made by  (a) the European Anti-Fraud Office and  (b) the case of illegal exports to Iraq during the previous regime, as referred to on page 125 of the European Court of Auditors' Reportfor 2003.

Geoff Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to the reply my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Howells, gave to him on 10 May 2006,  Official Report, column 351W, with regard to illegal exports to Iraq in the 1990's. Several member states have been requested to recover funds unduly paid. Investigations on financial responsibility are ongoing.

Sri Lanka

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of United Nations reports that the Karuna Group in Sri Lanka is recruiting child soldiers; and what steps she is taking to seeks to stop the practice.

Kim Howells: We are very concerned at recent reports that criticised parties to the Sri Lanka conflict including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Karuna faction for the recruitment and use of child soldiers. We deplore this practice: there can be no excuse for failing to observe such basic human rights. We fully support the UN Security Council Resolutions on children in armed conflict, including Resolution 1612 that set up a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the recruitment and use of child soldiers in a number of countries including, Sri Lanka. We are actively involved in the Working Group on children and armed conflict at the UN. We also actively contribute to EU policy formation and implementation on this issue, including the recent Statement of the EU Presidency to the UN Human Rights Council, which raised detailed concerns about the recruitment and use of child soldiers in Sri Lanka. Bilaterally, we have and will continue to underline to the Sri Lankan authorities as well as to the LTTE the unacceptability of the recruitment and use of child soldiers in violation of applicable international law.
	We understand that since these reports Colonel Karuna has contacted the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and given assurances the Karuna Group will work formally with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to implement an action plan to prevent the recruitment and use of children. We, and international partners, will be closely monitoring this initiative.

Broadband: North East Region

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what help his Department is giving to  (a) rural areas and  (b) other areas in the North East of England where broadband is (i) unavailable and (ii) only available at a slow speed.

Margaret Hodge: 99.8 per cent. of the UK population is able to access broadband as defined by Ofcom in May 2004 as "higher bandwidth, always-on service, offering data rates of 128kbps and above". Broadband coverage stands at 99.2 per cent. of households in rural areas.
	The DTI has now moved away from basic accessibility issues towards encouraging greater take-up. In general, the market rather than the regulatoror public sector is best placed to assess the appropriateness of widening and/or strengtheningthe existing broadband network although both the regulator and the Government will consider whether there is any market failure which requires intervention.
	In the consultation on the next Rural Development Programme for England, DEFRA has proposed that one priority should be to enhance opportunity inrural areas through increased investment in skills, enterprise and innovation. The availability and effective use of broadband will be key to this objective.Regional Development Agencies and other regional partners will be involved in prioritising and delivering the Programme. However, the start of the Programme is being delayed as detailed in the Statementmade by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on1 November 2006.
	OneNorthEast has responsibility for regional economic and competitiveness policy in the North East of England. OneNorthEast currently offers support for providing satellite connectivity to rural businesses in the North East who are unable to get connectivity via fixed line broadband. It was the first UK region to ensure that all the all exchanges could provide broadband.
	The DTI, in conjunction with Ofcom, is due to publish a "best practice" statement on the rationale and scope for public sector interventions in the broadband market. DTI would currently support public intervention where:
	The market has failed;
	Distributional policy objectives can be achieved through intervention e.g. social inclusion, or reducing a digital divide; and
	There is evidence that increased competitiveness can be achieved through addressing regional economic disparities.

Green Public Buildings

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many public buildings have  (a) solar panels and  (b) wind turbines.

Malcolm Wicks: The Government do not hold any data on how many public buildings have  (a) solar panels and  (b) wind turbines.
	However, under Government capital grant programmes for microgeneration technologies, we have committed funds to the following public building projects:
	
		
			  Number of grants 
			  Programme  Solar panels  Wind turbines 
			 Solar PV major demonstration 167 0 
			 Low carbon buildings 15 25 
			 Clear skies 0 50

Industrial Injuries: Claims

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many industrial injury claims have been submitted for  (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and  (b) vibration white finger without a postcode.

Malcolm Wicks: The number of industrial injury claims submitted for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and vibration white finger (VWF) are shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Claims registered( 1) 
			 COPD 13,423 
			 VWF 1,764 
			 (1) No Claimant postcode in ICMS.

Manufacturing Industries

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many manufacturing jobs in Wales there are; how many there were in 1997; which jobs were  (a) created and  (b) lost in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 5 December 2006
	The latest ONS employee jobs data estimates that there were 171,099 employee jobs in manufacturing in Wales in June 2006. The equivalent June 1997 figure for Wales is 210,376.
	ONS data shows that manufacturing output is experiencing some welcome revival in 2006, growing 1.6 per cent. by October, compared to the end of last year. Productivity growth in manufacturing, using the "per job" measure, was 3.5 per cent. in quarter two of this year, compared to the previous quarter. This was higher then the equivalent measure for the whole economy, which was 2.0 per cent. So whilst regrettably the decline in manufacturing jobs continues, manufacturing continues to contribute in an important way to economic output.
	The ONS could not provide the relevant job flaws data required to answer parts  (a) and  (b).

New Businesses

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of new businesses in Wantage constituency in each year since 1997.

Margaret Hodge: VAT registration and de-registration data provide the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. The following table shows the number of VAT registrations in Wantage constituency in each year since 1997. The number of VAT de-registrations, the start of year stock of VAT registered businesses and the net change in stock (registrations less de-registrations) for each year are also shown.
	VAT registrations do not capture all start-up activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if their turnover falls below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Only 1.8 million out of 4.3 million enterprises (42 per cent.) were registered for VAT at the start of 2005. Similarly, not all businesses that de-register will necessarily have closed.
	
		
			  VAT registrations, de-registrations, start of year stock and net change, Wantage constituency, 1997-2005( 1) 
			   VAT registrations  VAT de-registrations  VAT Stock at start of year  Net change 
			 1997 395 270 3,320 125 
			 1998 390 270 3,445 120 
			 1999 380 295 3,565 85 
			 2000 410 320 3,650 90 
			 2001 350 260 3,740 90 
			 2002 405 290 3,830 115 
			 2003 380 290 3,945 90 
			 2004 425 290 4,035 135 
			 2005 390 315 4,170 75 
			 (1) Stock may not exactly match previous year's stock plus registrations minus de-registrations due to rounding.  Note: The VAT registrations data are also available from the Libraries of the House.  Source: Small Business Service, available from www.sbs.gov.uk/vat.

Social Research

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost was of Government social research in his Department in each of the last five years; how many projects were completed in that period; and how many people are employed in such research.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Government social researchers in DTI are co-located in four specialist units with other analysts (economists and statisticians). The Department's management information system does not provide a facility that would allow to separate out the cost of Government social research or to provide the number of Government social research projects completed in each of the last five years. There are currently 21 Government social research projects employed in DTI including six in the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).

Agency Staff

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the numbers of employees who were employed on  (a) short-term contracts,  (b) fixed-term appointments and  (c) on an agency supply basis in each region in (i) 2003, (ii) 2004 and (iii) 2005, broken down by (A) full-time and (B) part-time workers.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 18 December 2006:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the numbers of employees who are employed on (a) short-term contracts, (b) fixed-term appointments and (c) on an agency supply basis in each region for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 broken down by full-time and part-time workers. I am replying in her absence. (108667)
	The three tables attached give estimates of temporary employees by reason given for the job not being permanent, and by those who were full-time or part-time workers for the twelve month period ending February 2004, and for the twelve month periods ending December 2004 and 2005.
	Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and from the Annual Population Survey (APS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS and APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			  Table 1: Temporary employees( 1)  whether working full or part-time by type of temporary job and region of residence, 2003, United Kingdom 
			  Thousand 
			  12 months ending February 2004  United Kingdom  North East  North West  Yorkshire and Humberside  East Midlands  West Midlands  East 
			  Total( 2)
			 All temporary employees(3) 1,462 64 153 127 88 117 123 
			 Seasonal work 89 3 9 7 4 6 10 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 659 36 72 56 42 44 49 
			 Agency temping 248 8 23 20 15 32 25 
			 Casual work 300 11 29 24 19 25 22 
			 Not permanent in some other way 166 6 19 19 8 10 17 
			 
			  Full-time
			 All temporary employees(3) 751 37 78 60 43 56 61 
			 Seasonal work 32 1 3 1 2 2 4 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 421 25 45 34 23 24 29 
			 Agency temping 180 6 17 14 10 23 20 
			 Casual work 47 1 5 3 4 3 2 
			 Not permanent in some other way 70 4 7 7 3 5 7 
			 
			  Part-time
			 All temporary employees(3) 709 27 75 67 45 60 62 
			 Seasonal work 56 2 6 6 2 5 7 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 238 11 28 22 18 20 20 
			 Agency temping 67 2 6 6 4 9 5 
			 Casual work 252 9 23 21 15 22 20 
			 Not permanent in some other way 95 3 12 12 5 5 10 
		
	
	
		
			   London  South East  South West  Wales  Scotland  Northern Ireland 
			  Total( 2)   
			 All temporary employees(3) 207 202 134 76 136 36 
			 Seasonal work 5 12 15 4 11 2 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 88 91 53 37 75 15 
			 Agency temping 47 34 20 10 13 2 
			 Casual work 46 47 29 16 21 11 
			 Not permanent in some other way 21 19 16 9 17 5 
			
			  Full-time   
			 All temporary employees(3) 117 104 60 39 79 16 
			 Seasonal work 1 5 6 2 5 (4)— 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 63 60 30 24 52 11 
			 Agency temping 35 24 13 7 10 1 
			 Casual work 7 8 5 3 4 1 
			 Not permanent in some other way 10 6 6 4 9 3 
			
			  Part-time   
			 All temporary employees(3) 90 98 74 36 56 19 
			 Seasonal work 4 6 9 2 6 2 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 25 31 23 13 23 4 
			 Agency temping 12 9 7 3 3 1 
			 Casual work 39 39 24 13 17 10 
			 Not permanent in some other way 11 13 10 5 7 3 
			 (1) Temporary employees in the LFS are those who say that their main job is non-permanent in one of the ways listed in the table. (2) Includes people who did not state whether working full or part-time. (3) Includes people who did not state type of temporary work. (4) Estimates are taken from the LFS. Samples sizes are too small to provide reliable estimates.  Source: ONS Annual Labour Force Survey (LFS). 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Temporary employees( 1)  whether working full or part-time by type of temporary job and region of residence, 2004, United Kingdom 
			  Thousand 
			  12 months ending December 2004  United Kingdom  North East  North West  Yorkshire and Humberside  East Midlands  West Midlands  East 
			  Total( 2)
			 All temporary employees(3) 1,436 70 141 126 95 114 115 
			 Seasonal work 94 4 7 7 7 6 9 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 647 36 65 56 38 45 49 
			 Agency temping 220 10 22 19 18 24 18 
			 Casual work 291 11 29 24 16 26 27 
			 Not permanent in some other way 184 9 17 19 15 13 13 
			 
			  Full-time
			 All temporary employees(3) 730 41 71 65 45 58 51 
			 Seasonal work 36 1 3 3 3 2 2 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 414 24 42 33 22 28 28 
			 Agency temping 156 7 15 15 12 19 13 
			 Casual work 43 3 4 4 2 3 3 
			 Not permanent in some other way 81 5 8 11 6 6 5 
			 
			  Part-time
			 All temporary employees(3) 705 29 70 61 50 55 64 
			 Seasonal work 57 3 4 4 4 4 7 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 233 11 23 23 16 16 21 
			 Agency temping 64 3 8 5 6 5 5 
			 Casual work 247 8 25 20 14 23 24 
			 Not permanent in some other way 103 4 9 9 10 7 8 
		
	
	
		
			   London  South East  South West  Wales  Scotland  Northern Ireland 
			  Total( 2)   
			 All temporary employees(3) 192 196 119 75 150 42 
			 Seasonal work 6 9 13 7 15 3 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 88 93 48 34 77 20 
			 Agency temping 35 31 21 8 12 3 
			 Casual work 41 38 26 16 26 10 
			 Not permanent in some other way 22 25 12 11 21 6 
			
			  Full-time   
			 All temporary employees(3) 104 95 56 38 86 18 
			 Seasonal work 2 4 4 3 7 1 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 63 56 30 22 54 11 
			 Agency temping 25 21 13 6 9 2 
			 Casual work 6 5 4 3 5 1 
			 Not permanent in some other way 8 9 5 5 11 2 
			
			  Part-time   
			 All temporary employees(3) 88 101 63 37 63 24 
			 Seasonal work 4 5 8 4 8 2 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 25 36 18 12 23 8 
			 Agency temping 10 10 8 2 3 1 
			 Casual work 35 34 23 12 21 9 
			 Not permanent in some other way 14 16 7 6 9 4 
			 (1) Temporary employees in the LFS are those who say that their main job is non-permanent in one of the ways listed in the table. (2) Includes people who did not state whether working full or part-time. (3) Includes people who did not state type of temporary work.  Source: ONS Annual Population Survey (APS). 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Temporary employees( 1)  whether working full or part-time by type of temporary job and region of residence, 2005, United Kingdom 
			  Thousand 
			  12 months ending December 2005  United Kingdom  North East  North West  Yorkshire and Humberside  East Midlands  West Midlands  East 
			  Total( 2)
			 All temporary employees(3) 1,346 64 130 116 90 103 115 
			 Seasonal work 92 4 6 6 6 5 6 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 608 32 60 53 39 41 50 
			 Agency temping 222 10 22 22 14 24 22 
			 Casual work 263 11 25 22 19 22 23 
			 Not permanent in some other way 160 7 16 13 12 11 13 
			 
			  Full-time
			 All temporary employees(3) 688 37 66 60 45 49 56 
			 Seasonal work 37 2 3 3 3 1 3 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 383 23 37 33 23 23 30 
			 Agency temping 159 7 16 17 11 18 16 
			 Casual work 41 2 2 2 5 2 3 
			 Not permanent in some other way 68 3 8 5 3 6 4 
			 
			  Part-time
			 All temporary employees(3) 657 27 64 55 45 53 59 
			 Seasonal work 55 2 4 3 3 4 4 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 225 9 23 20 16 18 20 
			 Agency temping 62 2 6 5 3 6 6 
			 Casual work 222 10 23 20 14 21 20 
			 Not permanent in some other way 92 4 8 7 9 4 9 
		
	
	
		
			   London  South East  South West  Wales  Scotland  Northern Ireland 
			  Total( 2)   
			 All temporary employees(3) 178 194 120 67 135 34 
			 Seasonal work 7 15 16 5 12 4 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 73 91 48 35 71 14 
			 Agency temping 38 34 17 6 11 3 
			 Casual work 36 35 23 13 24 8 
			 Not permanent in some other way 23 20 16 8 17 4 
			
			  Full-time   
			 All temporary employees(3) 100 95 53 35 76 15 
			 Seasonal work 1 7 6 2 5 1 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 56 55 27 22 47 8 
			 Agency temping 25 22 11 4 9 2 
			 Casual work 7 5 3 3 6 2 
			 Not permanent in some other way 12 6 6 3 9 2 
			
			  Part-time   
			 All temporary employees(3) 77 99 67 33 60 18 
			 Seasonal work 5 8 10 3 7 3 
			 Contract for fixed period fixed task 18 36 21 14 24 6 
			 Agency temping 13 12 6 2 2 1 
			 Casual work 30 30 20 10 18 7 
			 Not permanent in some other way 12 13 10 5 8 2 
			 (1) Temporary employees in the LFS are those who say that their main job is non-permanent in one of the ways listed in the table. (2) Includes people who did not state whether working full or part-time. (3) Includes people who did not state type of temporary work.  Source: ONS Annual Population Survey (APS).

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff were employed through employment agencies in  (a) his Department and  (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest time was for which these temporary workers were employed in each year.

John Healey: The information requested is not available in respect of HM Treasury, the Office for National Statistics, HM Revenue and Customs, the Debt Management Office and the Government Actuary's Department. Details relating to other departments and agencies in the years for which information is available are given below:
	
		
			   Office of Government Commerce  OGCbuying.solutions  National Savings and Investments  Royal Mint( 1)  Valuation Office Agency( 1) 
			  2001-02  
			 Agency staff — — — Nil — 
			 Average period — — — — — 
			 Longest period — — — — — 
			   
			  2002-03  
			 Agency staff — — — 18 — 
			 Average period — — — 17 weeks — 
			 Longest period — — — 28 weeks — 
			   
			  2003-04  
			 Agency staff — — — 12 — 
			 Average period — — — 52 weeks — 
			 Longest period — — — 52 weeks — 
			   
			  2004-05  
			 Agency staff 15 50 — Nil — 
			 Average period 26 weeks 1 month — — — 
			 Longest period 26 weeks 4 months — — — 
			   
			  2005-06  
			 Agency staff 57 59 22 Nil 57 
			 Average period 35 weeks 1 month 5.5 months — 4 weeks 
			 Longest period 52 weeks 7 months 1 year — 6 weeks 
			   
			  2006-07( 2)  
			 Agency staff 49 11 — — 108 
			 Average period 35 weeks 1 month — — 8 weeks 
			 Longest period 52 weeks 6 months — — 38 weeks 
			 (1) Royal Mint and VOA figures relate to calendar years (2) To date

Departmental Staff

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff in his Department earn  (a) £25,000-£49,999,  (b) £50,000-£100,000 and  (c) over £100,000 per year.

John Healey: HM Treasury's departmental report (Cm 6830, May 2006) sets out staff numbers by pay range. Report no. 62 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries (Cm 6727, March 2006) sets out salary bands for the senior civil service. Pay ranges for Treasury staff in ranges below these grades are:
	
		
			  £ 
			  Range  Minimum  Normal maximum  High performance maximum 
			 A 14,549 16,690 18,278 
			 B 16,340 20,225 22,978 
			 C 19,502 25,934 27,156 
			 D 24,264 37,130 41,856 
			 E 40,439 56,101 62,601

Economic Activity: Milton Keynes

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rates of  (a) male and  (b) female economic activity were in each local government ward in Milton Keynes in each year since 1979.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 18 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about economic activity. (109058)
	The Office for National Statistics compiles statistics, of economic activity from the Labour Force Survey following International Labour Organisation definitions. However, estimates of economic activity are not available for wards as the survey sample size for such areas is too small.
	Tables 1 to 3, attached, show economic activity rates for all persons of working age, males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59, resident in wards within Milton Keynes from the 1981, 1991 and 2001 Censuses of Population respectively.
	
		
			  Table 1: Economic activity rates for persons of working age resident in wards within Milton Keynes; 1981 
			  Percentage 
			   Economic activity rate 
			  Ward( 1)  All  Male  Female 
			 Bradwell 80 95 62 
			 Church Green 78 92 62 
			 Danesborough 79 93 64 
			 Denbigh 81 94 68 
			 Eaton 71 93 49 
			 Fenny Stratford 77 92 59 
			 Lavendon 75 93 55 
			 Linford 78 95 60 
			 Loughton 82 97 65 
			 Manor Farm 80 95 4 
			 Newport Pagnell 78 95 61 
			 Newton 80 94 5 
			 Olney 76 93 59 
			 Pineham 76 93 58 
			 Sherington 74 94 54 
			 Stantonbury 77 95 57 
			 Stony Stratford 77 93 59 
			 Whaddon 79 94 63 
			 Woburn Sands 79 92 64 
			 Wolverton 78 94 60 
			 Wolverton Stacey Bushes 73 94 52 
			 Woughton 75 94 56 
			 
			 Milton Keynes 77 94 60 
			 (1) 1981 frozen wards.  Note: Working age is defined as males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59.  Source: 1981 Census. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Economic activity rates for persons of working age resident in wards within Milton Keynes; 1991 
			  Percentage 
			   Economic activity rate 
			  Ward( 1)  All  Male  Female 
			 Bradwell 80 92 67 
			 Church Green 77 93 GO 
			 Danesborough 81 92 69 
			 Denbigh 79 92 65 
			 Eaton 70 89 52 
			 Fenny Stratford 74 38 59 
			 Lavendon 76 90 59 
			 Linford 79 92 67 
			 Loughton 84 95 73 
			 Manor Farm 79 91 66 
			 Newport Pagnell 82 93 69 
			 Newton 81 93 68 
			 Olney 80 93 66 
			 Pineham 81 93 69 
			 Sherington 77 90 63 
			 Stantonbury 81 92 66 
			 Stony Stratford 78 90 66 
			 Whaddon 79 91 66 
			 Woburn Sands 79 89 68 
			 Wolverton 78 91 64 
			 Wolverton Stacey Bushes 82 93 71 
			 Woughton 78 90 67 
			 Milton Keynes 79 92 67 
			 (1) 1991 frozen wards.  Note: Working age is defined as males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59.  Source: 1991 Census. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Economic activity rates for persons of working age resident in wards within Milton Keynes; 2001 
			  Percentage 
			   Economic activity rate 
			  Ward( 1)  All  Male  Female 
			 Bletchley and Fenny Stratford 81 87 75 
			 Bradwell 82 88 76 
			 Campbell Park 79 85 73 
			 Danesborough 84 90 77 
			 Denbigh 83 88 78 
			 Eaton Manor 75 85 65 
			 Emerson Valley 86 92 79 
			 Furzton 85 91 79 
			 Hanslope Park 84 89 79 
			 Linford North 83 88 79 
			 Linford South 82 88 75 
			 Loughton Park 81 83 77 
			 Middleton 85 92 79 
			 Newport Pagnell North 87 91 82 
			 Newport Pagnell South 87 91 83 
			 Olney 85 92 78 
			 Sherington 81 88 74 
			 Stantonbury 82 88 76 
			 Stony Stratford 82 88 77 
			 Walton Park 85 92 77 
			 Whaddon 84 89 78 
			 Wolverton 81 87 73 
			 Woughton 70 77 62 
			 Milton Keynes 82 88 76 
			 (1) Census Area Statistics wards.  Note: Working age is defined as males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59.  Source: 2001 Census.

Education Buildings: VAT

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the total amount of VAT collected from buildings used for educational purposes in each local authority in each year since 1997;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the total amount of VAT levied under the Building Schools for the Future programme in each year since the programme was established; and how much he estimates will be levied in each of the next three years;
	(3)  what guidelines HM Revenue and Customs has provided to local authorities on Building Schools for the Future and VAT; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each set of guidelines.

Dawn Primarolo: All bodies, whether in the public or private sector, incur VAT when they purchase goods and services.
	While, there are certain special schemes designed to provide VAT refunds to certain public bodies in relation to specific purchases or activities, the normal principle of public funding is that VAT, like any other cost, should be taken into account within the funding allocated to those bodies. This is the way the VAT system has worked in relation to public bodies since its introduction in 1973.
	The normal VAT liability rules apply to all public sector capital spending projects, including those carried out under the BSF Programme—i.e. that VAT is chargeable on non-residential new build or renewal work to non-listed buildings, except where the body concerned is a charity and the building is used at least 90 per cent. for a relevant charitable purpose.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have discussed VAT and Building Schools for the Future (BSF) with local authority representatives. All advice provided to date on VAT and BSF is covered by the usual rules of taxpayer confidentiality, and no general guidelines have been published. HMRC and HM Treasury remain in close contact with DfES, local authorities and local authority representative groups on this matter.
	HMRC does not hold detailed figures on any VAT that has previously been collected on buildings used for educational purposes; on any VAT charged on BSF projects to date; or on any VAT which may be levied on such projects in the next three years.
	However, if any VAT is chargeable on BSF projects, this will in general be reclaimable by a local authority where it relates to its statutory non-business functions, such as the delivery of free education.
	VAT is also reclaimable by a local authority in relation to taxable supplies, and to exempt activities where the amount of this VAT is insignificant. Where VAT is incurred by a non-local authority school, this will be reclaimable under the normal VAT rules, to the extent that it relates to taxable business activities.
	As previously stated, if any VAT is charged on a BSF project and is not reclaimable, it will in general be taken into account in the funding allocated to the spending body.

Life Expectancy

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average  (a) male and  (b) female life expectancy at birth was in each three-year period since 1978 to 1980 in (i) England and (ii) the fifth of local authorities with the lowest life expectancy at birth.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 18 December 2006:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the average  (a) male and  (b) female life expectancy at birth was in each three-year period since 1978 to 1980 in (i) England and (ii) the fifth of local authorities with the lowest life expectancy at birth. (109631)
	Figures for life expectancy at birth for local authorities in England are only available from 1991-93 onwards. The latest available figures are for 2003-05. The figures requested from 1991-93 to 2003-05 are included in the table below.
	
		
			  Life expectancy at birth for England, and the aggregated fifth of local authorities in England with the lowest life expectancy results,( 1)  1991-93 to 2003-05 
			  Life expectancy at birth (years) 
			   England  Lowest fifth of local authorities( 1) 
			  Males   
			 1991-93 73.7 71.9 
			 1992-94 74.0 72.1 
			 1993-95 74.2 72.3 
			 1994-96 74.4 72.5 
			 1995-97 74.6 72.7 
			 1996-98 74.8 72.9 
			 1997-99 75.1 73.1 
			 1998-2000 75.4 73.4 
			 1999-2001 75.7 73.7 
			 2000-02 76.0 74.0 
			 2001-03 76.2 74.2 
			 2002-04 76.6 74.5 
			 2003-05 76.9 74.9 
			
			  Females   
			 1991-93 79.1 77.6 
			 1992-94 79.4 77.9 
			 1993-95 79.4 78.0 
			 1994-96 79.6 78.2 
			 1995-97 79.7 78.2 
			 1996-98 79.8 78.3 
			 1997-99 80.0 78.4 
			 1998-2000 80.2 78.6 
			 1999-2001 80.4 78.8 
			 2000-02 80.7 79.1 
			 2001-03 80.7 79.1 
			 2002-04 80.9 79.3 
			 2003-05 81.1 79.5 
			 (1 )Results based on the 71 local authorities with the lowest life expectancy results in England in each three-year period.

Liquid Petroleum Gas

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what factors were taken into account when deciding that duty rates for liquid petroleum gas (lpg) should be increased by more than the rate of increase for  (a) petrol and  (b) diesel in the pre-budget report; and what estimate he has made of the likely effect of this policy on demand for lpg vehicles in the next five years.

John Healey: holding answer 14 December 2006
	The Alternative Fuels Framework, published in the 2003 PBR, sets out and establishes a clear rationale for decisions on Government support, including that policy must be environmentally sustainable, and that levels of support should reflect the full environmental impact of the fuel. In line with this framework, the 2006 pre-Budget report announced a reduction of the liquefied petroleum gas duty differential with ultra low sulphur petrol and diesel by the equivalent of 1 penny per litre.
	The Government keep the impacts of its tax policy decisions under review.

Mortality Statistics

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths there were in the last 12 months from  (a) heart disease,  (b) cancer,  (c) motor-neurone disease and  (d) AIDS.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 18 December 2006:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths there were in the last 12 months from (a) heart disease, (b) cancer, (c) motor-neurone disease and (d) AIDS. (109266)
	Numbers of deaths by the underlying cause of death are published annually by ONS in the reference series "DH2, Mortality Statistics - Cause."
	Recent volumes are available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=618.
	The latest available volume contains data for deaths in 2004. Numbers of deaths for the causes requested are included in the table below.
	As AIDS or HIV infection may not be recorded as the underlying cause at death registration, the figure published by ONS is likely to be an undercount of the true total of these deaths. Although there is provision for the certifier of the death to inform ONS in confidence that a death should be coded to AIDS/HIV, previous research has shown that this does not happen in at least 30 per cent of cases(1). The Health Protection Agency (HPA) receives data from clinicians about clinically diagnosed cases of HIV and AIDS and is notified of any deaths that occur. An anonymised database of these records is used by the HPA to report on mortality from AIDS/HIV.
	(1 )McCormick A (1994) The impact of human immunodeficiency virus on the population of England and Wales. "Population Trends" 76, p40-45
	
		
			  Deaths by selected underlying cause( 1) , England and Wales( 2) , 2004( 3) 
			  Underlying cause  Number of deaths 
			 Heart disease 92,528 
			 Cancer 134,856 
			 Motor neuron disease 1,509 
			 AIDS 209 
			 (1) Cause of death defined using the following International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes:  Heart disease (Ischemic heart diseases)—ICD-10 120-125  Cancer (all malignant neoplasms)—ICD-10 C00-C97  Motor neuron disease—ICD-10 G12.2  AIDS (Human immunodeficiency virus disease)—ICD-10 B20-B24 (2 )Includes non-residents. (3) Deaths occurring in the 2004 calendar year.

Terrorist Finance

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what  (a) advice was offered on issues relating to terrorist finance by the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit and  (b) discussions were held on terrorists' exploitation of financial systems during the seminar held in April as cited on his Department's website.

Edward Balls: The Treasury participated in a confidential operational debrief by the NTFIU with financial institutions in April. In May this year, the Money Laundering Advisory Committee met to consider how Government and industry could work more closely together to combat the terrorist finance and agreed to encourage greater information sharing on emerging threats.

Compensation Payments

John Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister how much was paid in compensation payments by his Office in 2005-06; and what the reason was for each payment.

Tony Blair: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Hilary Armstrong) today.

DHL

Anne Milton: To ask the Prime Minister how much his Office paid to DHL in each financial year between 1997-98 and 2005-06.

Tony Blair: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Miliband) today.

Middle East

James Duddridge: To ask the Prime Minister how many officials from his Department are based in  (a) Israel and  (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territories on a (i) temporary and (ii) permanent basis; and what the length of service in each location is of each official.

Tony Blair: None. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Dr. Howells) gave to him on 11 December 2006,  Official Report, column 768W.

Benefit Payments: Tamworth

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioner households in Tamworth constituency are receiving  (a) pension credit and  (b) pensions saving credit; and what the (i) highest and (ii) average amount awarded is.

James Purnell: The information requested is in the following tables. The pension credit is made up of two elements, guarantee credit and savings credit. An individual can receive either one or both guarantee credit and savings credit.
	
		
			  Table 1: The number of households in receipt of pension credit by type in Tamworth constituency and the average weekly payment:May 2006 
			  Type of pension credit  Household recipients  Average weekly payments (£) 
			 Guarantee credit only 940 73.19 
			 Savings credit only 960 12.34 
			 Guarantee and savings credit 2,110 43.55 
			 All 4,010 43.05 
			  Notes:  1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest ten. Totals may not sum due to rounding.  2. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the 2005 postcode directory.  3. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.  4. Average weekly payments are shown as pound per week and are rounded to the nearest penny.  Source:  DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: The highest award amounts for pension credit in Tamworth: May 2006 
			  Type of pension credit  Highest awards (£) 
			 Guarantee credit 174.05 
			 Savings credit 23.58 
			  Source:  DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. sample data.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what total amount of additional unpaid maintenance has been recovered to date as a result of the Child Support Agency's operational improvement plan; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what total amount of additional unpaid maintenance has been recovered to date as a result of the Child Support Agency's Operational Improvement plan; and if he will make a statement.
	The Operational Improvement Plan announced in Parliament on 9(th) February 2006 and launched in April 2006 aims over the next three years to improve our service to clients, increase the amount of money we collect, achieve greater compliance from non-resident parents and as a result achieve a reduction in child poverty and a better standard of living for many more children.
	The initial phase of the Operational Improvement Plan has focussed on the organisational and operational restructuring of the Agency, and the training of our people. Once this phase is complete we can expect to see more clearly the benefits of the Plan. Even now early results show improvements in several key areas; at the end of September 2006 compared with a year ago:
	67,000 more children benefited from maintenance arrangements
	Uncleared applications were down by 12 per cent and stood at their lowest since comparable records began in May 1999
	An average of £71.3 million every month is being collected or arranged through Maintenance Direct (up from £67.5 million each month in 2005/06)
	The Agency cleared more applications: 55 per cent within twelve weeks (up from 44 per cent and meeting target level) and 73 per cent within six months (up from 60 per cent)
	59 per cent of new scheme cases with a liability made a payment or arranged Maintenance Direct (up from 53 per cent)
	The Agency answered 97 per cent of queued calls (up from91 per cent in March 2006)
	The Operational Improvement Plan included plans to contract out some of the outstanding debt owed to parents with care, to private debt collection agencies. By the end of October 2006 over £180,000 had been collected by these agencies. A letter sent by the Agency to inform clients that their debt is to be transferred to the external debt collection agencies had also resulted in an additional £250,000 collected by the Agency by the end of October 2006.
	During the year ending March 2006 a total amount of£13.5 million was collected through specific legal enforcement work, an average monthly amount of £1.1 million. This has increased during the first half of the reporting year 2006/2007 during which the Agency has collected £8.6 million, a monthly average of £1.4 million.
	The Agency continues to improve the collection of child support maintenance arrears and during the year ending March 2006 a total amount of £80.8 million was collected, an average monthly amount of £6.7 million. This has increased to an average monthly amount of £7.1 million during the first half of the reporting year 2006/2007.
	I hope this information is helpful.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken to answer telephone calls to the Child Support Agency helpline has been for new scheme cases in each month since 1 January 2003; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 18 December 2006:
	In reply to your recent parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken to answer telephone calls to the Child Support Agency helpline has been for new scheme cases in each month since 1 January 2003; and if he will make a statement.
	The attached table shows the average time taken to answer telephone calls received in respect of both new and old scheme cases on the new computer system (CS2). It is not possible to disaggregate this data by scheme, and monthly information is only available from July 2003 onwards.
	The speed of answering calls has improved steadily since 2004. On average, the Agency has answered telephone calls within one minute on both new and old computer systems every month since March 2006, as committed to in the Agency's published service standard. However, in September 2006, there was a seasonal dip in performance caused by high call volumes. To reduce the impact of such seasonal variations in future, the Agency is investigating ways of being able to deploy its people at times of high call activity.
	Further information on the Agency's telephony performance is contained in table 16 of the September 2006 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link:
	www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_sep06.asp.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.
	
		
			  Average time to answer calls to the Child Support Agency on the new computer system (CS2) 
			  Month  Average time to answer calls (hours: minutes: seconds) 
			 July 2003 0:01:36 
			 August 2003 0:01:10 
			 September 2003 0:01:15 
			 October 2003 0:02:21 
			 November 2003 0:02:36 
			 December 2003 0:01:19 
			 January 2004 0:02:48 
			 February 2004 0:02:59 
			 March 2004 0:03:35 
			 April 2004 0:03:16 
			 May 2004 0:02:34 
			 June 2004 0:01:48 
			 July 2004 0:01:53 
			 August 2004 0:02:24 
			 September 2004 0:03:17 
			 October 2004 0:03:04 
			 November 2004 0:02:23 
			 December 2004 0:02:03 
			 January 2005 0:02:33 
			 February 2005 0:02:07 
			 March 2005 0:02:24 
			 April 2005 0:02:03 
			 May 2005 0:01:32 
			 June 2005 0:01:22 
			 July 2005 0:01:13 
			 August 2005 0:01:37 
			 September 2005 0:01:49 
			 October 2005 0:01:36 
			 November 2005 0:01:12 
			 December 2005 0:00:49 
			 January 2006 0:01:06 
			 February 2006 0:01:12 
			 March 2006 0:00:52 
			 April 2006 0:00:32 
			 May 2006 0:00:29 
			 June 2006 0:00:24 
			 July 2006 0:00:30 
			 August 2006 0:00:33 
			 September 2006 0:00:52 
			  Note:  1. Data is presented for calls made regarding cases on the new computer system (CS2). It is not possible to separate this data into calls about new and old scheme cases. 2. The time to answer calls is measure from the point at which calls become available for staff to answer, which occurs after the caller has entered their details via the telephone key pad.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency cases were  (a) outstanding and  (b) unprocessed in each year from 1993 to 2006; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 18 December 2006
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Support Agency cases are (a) outstanding and (b) unprocessed in each year from 1993 to 2006; and if he will make a statement.
	The Agency begins to process new applications as soon as they are received and continues until they have been cleared. Any applications that have not yet been cleared can be regarded as outstanding. The amount of work required to achieve clearance and the elapsed time it involves varies considerably depending on, amongst other things, the circumstances of the parents and how readily they cooperate with the Agency. As such, the Agency holds only a negligible number of completely unprocessed applications.
	The attached table shows the number of uncleared applications at points in time between May 1999 and September 2006. For the period prior to May 1999, reliable management information on uncleared applications is not available.
	The information provided in the table can be derived by combining information from Table 1 and Table 2.1 of the September 2006 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library, or on the internet via the following link:
	www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_sep06.asp
	Although the total volume of uncleared applications, 247,500 in September 2006, is the lowest since comparable records began, the Agency recognises that this remains unacceptably high. The Agency therefore has a 2006/07 target to ensure that, by March 2007, the volume of new scheme uncleared applications outstanding at March 2006 is reduced by 25% and our challenge, as set down in our Operational Improvement Plan, is that the Agency should not have a backlog by March 2009.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.
	
		
			  Number of uncleared applications across both schemes between May 1999 and September 2006 
			   Total  New scheme  Old scheme 
			 May 1999 334,500 — 334,500 
			 May 2000 292,600 — 292,600 
			 May 2001 304,500 — 304,500 
			 May 2002 269,300 — 269,300 
			 May 2003 272,300 48,900 223,400 
			 May 2004 295,600 170,000 125,500 
			 May 2005 294,100 223,500 70,500 
			 May 2006 267,200 215,400 51,800 
			 September 2006 247,500 200,500 47,100 
			  Notes: 1 .A potential new application is cleared when it: —has had a calculation and a payment arrangement set up (new scheme only); —has had an assessment (old scheme only); —has been closed (both schemes); —has been identified as having had a good cause decision accepted (both schemes); —has been identified as being subject to a reduced benefit decision (both schemes); —has been identified as a change of circumstances to an existing case, as opposed to a new application (new scheme only). An application remains uncleared until it achieves one of the states above. 2. The old scheme began in February 1993. The new scheme began in March 2003. There are no reliable data on uncleared applications prior to May 1999. 3. Of the 47,100 old scheme applications still awaiting clearance, 23,900 are on the old Child Support Computer System (CSCS) and 23,100 on the new Child Support 2 (CS2) computer system. Of the 23,900 applications on CSCS, 23,000 are suspended, principally because the Agency has been unable to trace the non-resident parent. Similar types of applications will be included in work in progress on CS2 (for both old and new scheme applications), but the volumes cannot currently be quantified. 4. Volumes are rounded to the nearest hundred. For this reason, total applications may not always appear to equal new scheme applications plus old scheme applications. 5. This table counts applications for Child Support. Not all applications become live cases. It is not possible to quantify the extent to which the Agency's clerical new-scheme caseload is or is not included in the above numbers.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what total payments of Child Support Agency arrears have been made by absent parents in each  (a) month,  (b) quarter and  (c) year since 1997-98; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what total payments of Child Support Agency arrears have been made by absent parents for each (a) month (b) quarter and (c) year since 1997-98; and if he will make a statement.
	The answer to your question can be found on the following table. Data on the old scheme (until March 2003) was only recorded quarterly. Monthly figures are available from March 2003.
	The Agency now collects more than double the amount of arrears payments each quarter than it did in 1997. However, we are aware that there remains a great deal of work to be done in this area.
	The Agency's Operational Improvement Plan, published in February 2006, includes:
	a target to reduce historic debt owed by non-resident parents by £200m up to 2009;
	a major increase in the number of designated enforcement people;
	an objective to raise levels of case compliance for new scheme cases to 75 per cent by March 2008 and 80 per cent in March 2009.
	We have also launched a Specialist Trace Service, so that cases which have been suspended because the Agency has insufficient information to trace the non-resident parent, can be transferred to the private sector to make use of their specialist tracing skills.
	As such, we plan to reduce significantly the levels of historic debt in the Agency, and ensure that more non-resident parents meet their responsibilities to their children.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.
	
		
			  (a) The monetary value of maintenance arrears payments made by non-resident parents since March 2003, split by month 
			   £ million 
			 March 2003 5.531 
			 April 2003 5.058 
			 May 2003 5.324 
			 June 2003 5.257 
			 July 2003 5.592 
			 August 2003 4.954 
			 September 2003 5.433 
			 October 2003 5.652 
			 November 2003 4.943 
			 December 2003 5.197 
			 January 2004 5.639 
			 February 2004 4.921 
			 March 2004 5.816 
			 April 2004 5.292 
			 May 2004 5.079 
			 June 2004 6.307 
			 July 2004 5.575 
			 August 2004 5.783 
			 September 2004 5.403 
			 October 2004 5.500 
			 November 2004 6.045 
			 December2004 5.620 
			 January 2005 5.628 
			 February 2005 5.572 
			 March 2005 6.325 
			 April 2005 5.942 
			 May 2005 6.501 
			 June 2005 6.975 
			 July 2005 7.491 
			 August 2005 6.739 
			 September 2005 6.224 
			 October 2005 6.701 
			 November 2005 7.238 
			 December2005 6.363 
			 January 2006 6.875 
			 February 2006 6.225 
			 March 2006 7.528 
			 April 2006 6.361 
			 May 2006 7.874 
			 June 2006 7.289 
			 July 2006 7.393 
			 August 2006 7.038 
			 September 2006 6.698 
			  Note: Data on the old scheme (until March 2003) was only collected on a quarterly basis. 
		
	
	
		
			  (b) The monetary value of maintenance arrears payments made by non-resident parents since 1997-98, split by quarter 
			  Quarter ending  £ million 
			 May 1997 8.786 
			 August 1997 10.161 
			 November 1997 11.081 
			 February 1998 11.843 
			 May 1998 13.333 
			 August 1998 13.474 
			 November 1998 15.153 
			 February 1999 14.622 
			 May 1999 15.898 
			 August 1999 16.917 
			 November 1999 15.998 
			 February 2000 15.726 
			 May 2000 15.471 
			 August 2000 15.947 
			 November 2000 15.547 
			 February 2001 15.646 
			 May 2001 16.007 
			 August 2001 16.214 
			 November 2001 15.655 
			 February 2002 15.353 
			 May 2002 16.509 
			 August 2002 16.120 
			 November 2002 16.519 
			 February 2003 15.696 
			 May 2003 15.914 
			 August 2003 15.803 
			 November 2003 16.027 
			 February 2004 15.757 
			 May 2004 16.187 
			 August 2004 17.665 
			 November 2004 16.948 
			 February 2005 16.820 
			 May 2005 18.769 
			 August 2005 21.205 
			 November 2005 20.163 
			 February 2006 19.463 
			 May 2006 21.763 
			 August 2006 21.720 
		
	
	
		
			  (c) The monetary value of maintenance arrears payments made by non-resident parents since 1997-98, split by year 
			  Year ending  £ million 
			 February 1998 41.872 
			 February 1999 56.583 
			 February 2000 64.540 
			 February 2001 62.610 
			 February 2002 63.228 
			 February 2003 64.844 
			 March 2004 63.785 
			 March 2005 68.129 
			 March 2006 80.802 
			  Notes:  1. Arrears are accrued when the non-resident parent does not pay the full amount of regular maintenance due.  2. Monthly data are only available from March 2003, when the new scheme was introduced. Data on the old scheme prior to March 2003 are only available quarterly.  3. Because the quarterly data prior to March 2003 is for irregular quarters (February, May, August, November), it is only possible to give figures by financial year (i.e. the year ending in March) from 2004 onwards. Prior to this, information is for the most comparable periods: the years ending in February.  4. Monetary values are presented in millions.  5. Figures in the tables are taken from Agency Management Information rather than the general ledger.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents with care are owed Child Support Agency maintenance arrears; what the average arrears are per case; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter of the Chief Executive. He will write to the right, hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 18 September, 2006:
	In reply to your recent parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many parents with care are owed Child Support Agency maintenance arrears; what the average arrears per case are; and if he will make a statement.
	In September 2006 there were 598,600 cases that had outstanding arrears owed to the parent with care by the non-resident parent in respect of their child or children. The mean average arrears for these cases was £3,170 and the median average was £660. These figures exclude arrears owed to the Secretary of State by non-resident parents.
	The Agency recognizes that current debt remains high and targets have been introduced to slow down and stabilise the growth of debt. As part of the Agency's "Operational Improvement Plan", published in February 2006, we:
	have contracted out some debt collection to the private sector;
	are improving our own efforts to collect, by increasing the number of people dedicated to enforcement activity within the Agency and learning lessons from the private sector.
	These measures will enable the Agency to collect over 200 million more historic debt over the next three years.
	I hope you find this answer useful.

Child Support Agency

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been paid in the form of  (a) consolatory payments and  (b) compensation by the Child Support Agency in each of the last five years.

James Plaskitt: holding answer 30 November 2006
	The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	 In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid in the form of (a) consolatory payments and (b) compensation by the Child Support Agency in each of the last five years.
	Financial redress is made to clients in cases where maladministration has occurred. Consolatory payments form a part of financial redress and are made by way of an apology for the handling of a client's case. These payments are not usually large amounts but do acknowledge that a client's case has not been handled as well as it might.
	The following table summarises the total amount paid by the Agency in financial redress as outlined in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts and consolatory payments in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Total paid in financial redress  Consolatory payments 
			 2001-02 2.59 0.696 
			 2002-03 2.478 0.661 
			 2003-04 2.331 0.406 
			 2004-05 3.009 0.582 
			 2005-06 4.138 0.608 
		
	
	I hope you find this response helpful.

Debt Collection Agencies

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Child Support Agency takes before referring a case of alleged arrears to a debt collection agency; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Child Support Agency takes before referring a case of alleged arrears to a debt collection agency; and if he will make a statement.
	The Child Support Agency carries out a full check on all cases before referring debts to the debt collection agencies. These checks ensure that the case is accurate and meets the following criteria:
	The debt on the case is at least £150.00;
	No child maintenance payment shave been received in the last three months;
	There is no ongoing appeal action;
	No parties involved in the case, ie the non-resident parent, parent with care or qualifying child(ren) is deceased;
	There is no ongoing legal enforcement action;
	The child maintenance debt amount is correct; and
	The last child maintenance assessment on the case is 100 per cent cash accurate. If not, the last child maintenance assessment will be revised and corrected so the case can be referred as required.
	Each case must meet all of the above criteria at which point the non-resident parent is notified and allowed seven days to contact the Child Support Agency to make an agreement to pay. Only after this point, and if no agreement has been made, is the debt passed to the debt collection agencies.
	I hope this information is helpful.

DHL

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department paid to DHL in each financial year between 1997-98 and 2005-06.

Anne McGuire: The Department has no formal contracts with DHL but have used their services on an ad-hoc basis. The following shows spend with DHL in each year from 2002-03 to present. No data is available for previous years.
	
		
			  DWP spend with DHL 
			   £ 
			 2002-03 7,318 
			 2003-04 3,063 
			 2004-05 890 
			 2005-06 7,947 
			 YTD 2006-07 8,382

Housing

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was allocated  (a) to each London local authority and  (b) in each region of the UK under the discretionary housing payment scheme in each of the last five years; and what proportion was used in each case.

James Plaskitt: The available information for London local authorities is in the following table.
	
		
			  Discretionary housing payment allocation for London local authorities 
			   Annual government allocation for discretionary housing payments (£000)  Percentage of allocation used 
			   2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05 
			 Barking 33 40 40 40 7 24 48 100 
			 Barnet 177 219 219 221 46 75 89 81 
			 Bexley 45 56 56 55 37 66 54 92 
			 Brent 116 143 143 230 73 100 100 100 
			 Bromley 86 107 107 67 1 5 34 94 
			 Camden 138 170 170 216 29 100 86 57 
			 City of London 4 5 5 3 — — — — 
			 Croydon 125 154 154 160 56 72 100 98 
			 Ealing 148 218 218 241 42 96 85 85 
			 Enfield 149 184 184 146 12 24 69 89 
			 Greenwich 138 185 185 228 58 100 100 100 
			 Hackney 98 121 121 116 7 34 29 100 
			 Hammersmith 89 117 117 127 32 85 100 87 
			 Haringey 153 189 189 173 22 33 64 100 
			 Harrow 85 105 105 98 35 56 64 100 
			 Havering 48 63 63 74 41 100 69 58 
			 Hillingdon 96 119 119 121 49 78 92 100 
			 Hounslow 59 72 72 93 56 100 100 49 
			 Islington 86 106 106 87 9 27 21 66 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 121 150 150 124 25 42 54 100 
			 Kingston-Upon-Thames 42 61 61 51 39 40 62 100 
			 Lambeth 93 124 124 123 22 56 100 100 
			 Lewisham 147 182 182 182 47 63 75 76 
			 Merton 72 106 106 91 77 53 73 100 
			 Newham 91 113 113 232 72 100 100 — 
			 Redbridge 108 149 149 172 64 96 82 48 
			 Richmond-Upon-Thames 94 138 138 124 62 67 65 75 
			 Southwark 89 131 131 153 34 94 92 87 
			 Sutton 71 92 92 71 66 37 34 99 
			 Tower Hamlets 96 141 141 150 57 79 80 94 
			 Waltham Forest 89 109 109 189 100 100 79 75 
			 Wandsworth 69 102 102 114 64 87 74 76 
			 Westminster 131 165 165 187 38 97 93 92 
			  Notes:  1. Amounts are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.  2. A dash represents no information available or no claim form was submitted by the local authority.  3. The latest available audited expenditure information for discretionary housing payments is for the financial year 2004-05.  4. The discretionary housing payment scheme was introduced on 2 July 2001, therefore the information for 2001-02 reflects part of that year. 
		
	
	The discretionary housing payment scheme was introduced on 2 July 2001. The information for the financial year 2001-02 is only available clerically for each local authority, and providing regional totals would be possible only at a disproportionate cost. The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Discretionary housing payment allocation for UK regions 
			   Annual Government allocation for discretionary housing payments (£000)  Percentage of allocation used 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05 
			 East Midlands 985 985 915 50 49 57 
			 Eastern 1,587 1,587 1,579 67 73 80 
			 Greater London 2,438 2,438 2,645 67 76 78 
			 Inner London 1,699 1,699 1,809 74 77 86 
			 North East 624 624 623 44 49 56 
			 North West 2,280 2,280 2,249 53 61 73 
			 Scotland 2,010 2,010 2,114 68 69 78 
			 South East 2,892 2,892 2,758 61 69 77 
			 South West 1,510 1,510 1,523 64 71 78 
			 Wales 884 884 905 62 70 76 
			 West Midlands 1,828 1,828 1,569 43 68 82 
			 Yorks and Humberside 1,262 1,262 1,310 60 75 69 
			  Notes:  1. Amounts are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.  2. Information is only available for Great Britain.  3. The latest available audited expenditure information for discretionary housing payments is for the financial year 2004-05.

Miners' Compensation

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many coal miners have made a claim for compensation under the Pneumoconiosis Act 1979 since 2002, broken down by area.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 7 December 2006
	The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Miners paid under 1979 scheme 
			  Month  Paid  England  Scotland  Wales  Abroad 
			 April 2005 0 0 0 0 0 
			 May 2005 5 0 0 5 0 
			 June 2005 18 5 1 12 0 
			 July 2005 28 4 10 14 0 
			 August 2005 12 2 4 5 1 
			 September 2005 60 7 5 48 0 
			 October 2005 89 7 4 78 0 
			 November 2005 21 4 3 14 0 
			 December 2005 12 7 1 4 0 
			 January 2006 14 3 3 8 0 
			 February 2006 8 5 0 3 0 
			 March 2006 15 9 3 3 0 
			 Total 282 53 34 194 1

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the rates of  (a) applications for social fund discretionary awards by and  (b) awards of social fund discretionary awards to (i) ethnic minority, (ii) elderly and (iii) other applicants.

James Plaskitt: The available information is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Approximate application rate in 2005-06 
			  Percentage 
			   Community care grant  Budgeting loan 
			 Pensioner 1.8 4.0 
			 Working age 18.8 70.7 
			  Notes: 1. The number of applications cannot be split between pensioners and working age, but the number of decisions can be divided in that way. The number of decisions has been used as an approximation to the number of applications. 2. The approximate application rate has been defined as the number of decisions divided by the average qualifying benefit caseload (expressed as a percentage). 3. Crisis loans are available to anyone, whether on benefit or not, who cannot meet their immediate short-term needs in an emergency or as a consequence of a disaster. The potential caseload is unknown. 4. Some applicants made more than one application for a community care grant and/or budgeting loan during the year.  Sources: 1. Social fund decisions: DWP social fund policy, budget and management information system. 2. Caseloads: Work and Pensions longitudinal study and five per cent sample data (from DWP internet tabulation tool). 
		
	
	
		
			  Initial award rate in 2005-06 
			  Percentage 
			   Community care grant  Budgeting loan  Crisis loan 
			 Pensioner 64.5 85.6 71.1 
			 Working age 46.3 73.7 74.7 
			  Note: The initial award rate has been defined as the number of initial awards divided by the number of decisions (expressed as a percentage).  Source: DWP social fund policy, budget and management information system,

Unclaimed Benefit

Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of  (a) all people and  (b) pensioners entitled to claim (i) income support, (ii) housing benefit, (iii) council tax benefit, (iv) jobseeker's allowance and (v) pension credit and minimum income guarantee failed to claim each benefit in each of the last five years; and what the total value of the unclaimed benefit was in each case.

James Plaskitt: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the right hon. Member for North Tyneside (Mr. Byers) on 3 March 2006, Official Report, column 1034.

Winter Fuel Payments

Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review the time limit for making late claims for winter fuel allowance.

James Purnell: The vast majority of winter fuel payments are made automatically without the need to claim, using information held on the departmental computer systems. For people who need to claim, claim forms are available from July for the oncoming winter and can be submitted up to 30 March the following year. We have no plans to review the time limit for claiming a winter fuel payment.
	The number of late claims received in respect of the years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 is in the following table.
	
		
			   Late claims received to date  Total winter fuel payments made 
			 2003-04 9,046 11,468,240 
			 2004-05 8,465 11,401,170 
			 2005-06 2,857 11,514,760 
			  Notes: 1. Figures for late claims received are the cumulative total to date. 2. Figures for winter fuel payments made rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Claim forms for these years are still being received.  Source: Winter Fuel Payment Centre

Winter Fuel Payments

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure pensioners receive advice in winter 2006-07 about the grants and benefits available for heating costs.

James Purnell: The Pension Service is currently sending out notifications to approximately 11,500,000 customers aged 60 and over to inform them that they have been awarded a winter fuel payment. Winter fuel payments have been promoted via press advertising and communications to welfare rights advisers.
	The advertising invites customers who may be entitled to a winter fuel payment but have not received one in the past, to apply.
	The Pension Service internet site carries full details on winter fuel payments as well as advice about other benefits that customers may be entitled to, such as cold weather payments (which are operated by Jobcentre Plus). The website also carries useful information about other schemes and grants to help pensioners heat their homes such as the warm front scheme administered by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	The Pension Service works with the Department of Health and other Government Departments on the annual "Keep Warm Keep Well" campaign, which offers advice to pensioners and other vulnerable groups about keeping warm over the winter months. This provides a range of practical information and contact details for a range of grants and services.
	[Continued in Column1583W]

Digital Television

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent progress has been made in developing the Government's plan for targeted assistance in the move to digital television; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: Good progress has been made on the Digital Switchover Help Scheme—and discussions with the BBC about its establishment and funding are continuing. The Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill will be read a second time today. The Bill would enable the scheme to receive social security information in order to target those eligible for assistance and so help to increase take up among those eligible. There will also be extensive communications to raise awareness about the scheme and we continue to work closely with the Digital Switchover Consumer Experts Group, which includes a number of leading voluntary sector organisations including Age Concern, RNIB and RNID, to explore how best to communicate with eligible groups.

Digital Television

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to raise public awareness in West Lancashire of the Government's plan for digital switchover; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: Digital UK is the independent, non-profit organisation leading the process of digital switchover in the UK. Their communications provide impartial information on what people need to do and when they need to do it.
	In May 2006, Digital UK launched its first nationwide campaign of communications and assistance. A second campaign, still ongoing, started in October.
	Digital UK is committed to begin targeted regional campaigns three years in advance of switchover in the region. These have started in the first four areas: Border, West Country, Wales and Granada.
	Information on levels of awareness is not available by county or Parliamentary constituency, although according to Digital UK, at 30 September, awareness of Digital Switchover in the Granada ITV region was 71 per cent.

Sport: Participation

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent estimate she has made of the level of participation in sport; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: Participation in sport starts at school. The 2005-06 school sport survey showed that 80 per cent. were doing at least two hours of high quality PE and school sport per week, exceeding the 75 per cent. target.
	Data from the national Taking Part Survey published last week estimates that 54 per cent. of adults participated in at least one active sport in the past month and 21 per cent. of adults participated in moderate intensity level sport for at least 30 minutes on three separate occasions in the past week.

Cricket

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to promote cricket among young people.

Richard Caborn: Cricket is one of the 22 key sports within the National School Sport Strategy. The national governing body for cricket is receiving £1.24 million over the four years to 2007 to deliver their objectives for the club links and step into sport programmes.
	The 2005-06 school sport survey found that cricket is the 5(th )most popular sport, with 89 per cent. of schools offering it to their pupils. The survey also found that cricket was the second most popular sport in terms of club links, with 52 per cent. of schools having links with a local cricket club.
	Since 2003, the English Cricket Board has committed £9.6 million of exchequer funding to 264 community sports clubs for the development, or redevelopment, of their sports facilities.
	Sport England has awarded £2 million of Sports Lottery Fund money over two years (2005-07) to the "Chance to Shine" initiative for young people.

2012 Olympics

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures she is planning to put in place to combat performance enhancing drugs use in the 2012 Olympic Games.

Richard Caborn: The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is aiming to put in place an anti-doping programme of the highest standards for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012.
	A Chief Medical Officer will be appointed whose responsibilities will include putting in place appropriate testing procedures to combat the use of performance-enhancing drugs at the Games. It is anticipated that up to 5,000 athletes will be tested over the period of the Games. Testing procedures will be in accordance with standards set down by the IOC and WADA.
	In the meantime, LOCOG continues to work very closely with UK Sport, which, as the country's national anti-doping organisation, will continue to run and implement the national anti-doping strategy in accord with the World Anti-Doping Code, in order to combat the use of performance-enhancing drugs within the United Kingdom in the lead up to 2012.

2012 Olympics

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will discuss with the Treasury the creation of a fund to assist in the development of facilities outside London linked to the 2012 Olympics.

Richard Caborn: The Government are determined that the whole of the UK can contribute to and benefit from the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. A Nations and Regions Group (NRG), comprising representatives from every region and nation, has been established to provide leadership and strategic direction. Areas of potential benefit include business opportunities, hosting pre games training camps, tourism, culture and volunteering opportunities. Each nation and region is involving all key agencies in developing a delivery plan to ensure that these opportunities are maximised.
	We are already investing over £1 billion on over 4,000 new or refurbished sports facilities. A further £40 million is available for the Community Club Development Programme over 2006-08 and a proportion of the £35 million for the National Sports Foundation will also be spent on facilities.

Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost to the public purse was of subsidising the artwork Naked Man on Breakwater Wrapped in Lightbulbs featuring on pages 10-11 of her Department's Annual Report 2006.

David Lammy: Naked Man on Breakwater Wrapped in Light bulbs is a still taken from a film entitled Andout.
	This film was funded by Arts Council England in 2002 for £7,000. Other partners included the Creative Arts Consortium and Dance City in Newcastle. It was premiered in 2003 and has been shown extensively in the UK and internationally including Athens and Toronto.

Art Galleries

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what percentage of her Department's funding for art galleries was received by galleries outside London in the last period for which figures are available;
	(2)  what percentage of art galleries which are receiving funding from her Department are outside London in 2006-07.

David Lammy: Many institutions that receive departmental funding hold both museum and art gallery collections within a single institutional entity. It is not possible to disaggregate the funding that is received solely by the art galleries within these institutions. Hence the data in the table relate solely to separate art galleries sponsored directly by the Department, or visual arts organisations in receipt of regular funding from Arts Council England.
	The Department sponsors six art galleries outside of London—the Lady Lever Art Gallery, the Walker Art Gallery, Tate Liverpool, Tate St. Ives, the Laing Art Gallery and the Shipley Art Gallery; and four in London—The National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern.
	
		
			  Gallery  Grant in aid received by sponsored art galleries outside London, 2006-07 
			 National Museums Liverpool—Lady Lever Art Gallery (£) 458,000 
			 National Museums Liverpool—Walker Art Gallery (£) 1,352,000 
			 Tate—Tate Liverpool (£) 3,614,931 
			 Tate—Tate St. Ives (£) 1,081,575 
			 Tyne and Wear Museums—Laing Art Gallery (£) 264,180 
			 Tyne and Wear Museums—Shipley Art Gallery (£) 119,690 
			 Total (£) 6,890,376 
			 Total as a percentage of all sponsored galleries 10.29 
		
	
	In addition, Arts Council England has allocated £13,189,179 in 2006-07 to art galleries outside London. This represents 60.89 per cent. of the total funding to art galleries distributed by Arts Council England in 2006-07.
	82.89 per cent. of art galleries that received Arts Council funding are outside London in 2006-07.

British Films

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the new cultural test for British films on the British film industry.

Shaun Woodward: A full regulatory impact assessment (RIA) was undertaken when the initial cultural test was introduced in February 2006. Since then, a further RIA has been undertaken to assess the revised cultural test.
	The introduction of the test will benefit the UK film industry by encouraging the production of culturally British films, (which have British content) make a contribution to British culture, using British film-making facilities or practitioners.

British Films

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding was granted by her Department to the British Film Institute in each year since 1997.

Shaun Woodward: The levels of funding, granted by the Department to the British Film Institute for each year are as follows:
	
		
			   Amount (£ million) 
			 1997-98 16 
			 1998-99 15.10 
			 1999-2000 16.91 
			 2000-01 (1)16.45 
			 2001-02 14.05 
			 2002-03 14.5 
			 2003-04 14.7 
			 2004-05 (2)16.8 
			 2005-06 (3)19 
			 (1 )£14.5 million core + £1.5 million one-off DCMS additional funding for re-structuring + £0.45 million advance from 2001-02 funding.  (2 )£16.0 million + £0.8 million DCMS modernisation funding.  (3 )£16 million + £1 million DCMS modernisation funding + £2 million UK Film Council capital award. 
		
	
	Since 2000, departmental funding to the BFI has been directed through the UK Film Council, the Government's strategic agency for film.

Cultural Leadership Fund

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which projects have been funded to date by the Cultural Leadership Fund; what the cost has been of administering that fund; what the cost was of the Call for Ideas; how many responses were received; who the Core Group of Stakeholders were which co-launched the appeal; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: The following projects have been funded by the Cultural Leadership Fund to date:
	 Clore Leadership Programme Short Courses: £1,137,500 over two years.
	The Clore Leadership Programme, working with selected universities and business schools in England, are delivering a series of 13 two-week intensive residential courses designed to cultivate the skills of emerging cultural leaders.
	 Catalyst... Unleashed... in partnership with Unilever: £45,000.
	Practitioners from the cultural sector have joined Unilever's in-house team to take part in two pilots for leadership development. This creative leadership development programme has offered the opportunity for a commercial business and cultural sector collaboration in learning.
	 Creative Knowledge Lab: £2,500,000 over two years.
	CKL is being developed by Creative & Cultural Skills to provide a unique and comprehensive web based resource for cultural leaders at all stages of their careers to develop and manage their leadership progression and potential.
	 Leadership Development Networks: £1,029 over two years.
	Piloting leadership development through network activity and identifying shared ambitions. 14 pilot networks have been funded so far spanning the full range of industries from craft to design, performing and visual arts, libraries and museums.
	The remaining programme resources will be spread across the six priority areas and there is a commitment to ensuring the largest possible resources reach leaders in the sector directly.
	 Administration costs
	2005-06—£83,000 which included developing, promoting and reviewing the Call for Ideas as well as staffing, publicity distribution and consultation to establish and agree the parameters for the programme.
	2006-07—these are estimated at under £150,000.
	 Call for Ideas
	The Call for Ideas was conducted from July to October 2005 and elicited 170 written responses and 75 interviews with stakeholders as well as current and emerging leaders across the cultural sector.
	 Core Group of Stakeholders
	The Cultural Leadership Programme was developed by a Steering Group comprising: Arts Council England (ACE), Clore Leadership Programme, Creative & Cultural Skills (CCS), Department for Culture, Media and Sport, HM Treasury and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
	Since June 2006, the three sector lead organisations, ACE, CCS and the MLA have formed the Cultural Leadership Delivery Partnership, a unique cross-sector collaboration to support the programme.

Culture Online

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost was of Culture Online in 2005-06; and how many hits it has had in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: The cost of Culture Online (COL) was £6,392,718 in 2005-06. Hits to COL's websites numbered 121,763,900 in the last 12 months. Three projects do not collect hits—Origination, Playground Fun and Plant Cultures. There is no direct correlation between the cost of Culture Online and hits to the websites.
	COL's work also includes substantial outreach activity and largely focuses on hard-to reach audiences.

Culture West Midlands

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost was of sending the Culture West Midlands delegation to Brussels; and who was on the delegation.

David Lammy: The total cost to Culture West Midlands was £5,600. The delegation consisted of:
	Brian Woods-Scawen, Chair, Culture West Midlands
	Jonnie Turpie, Deputy Chair, Culture West Midlands
	Tim Bryan, Executive Director, Culture West Midlands
	Paul Udenze, Board Member, Culture West Midlands
	Maureen Compton, Board Member, Culture West Midlands
	Dorothy Wilson, Board Member, Culture West Midlands
	Ian Ward, Board Member, Culture West Midlands
	Sir William Lawrence, Board Member, Culture West Midlands
	Caroline Foxhall, Arts Council England West Midlands
	Liz Charlton, Government Office for the West Midlands
	Jenny Boylan, West Midlands Regional Assembly
	Loretta Sollars, Sport England West Midlands
	Krysia Rozanska, Screen West Midlands
	Mary Matthews, Advantage West Midlands
	Marilyn Lewis, Shropshire County Council
	Belinda Mifflin, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
	Bettina Reisser, Arts Council England
	Gavin Willetts, Culture West Midlands
	Laura Moore, Culture West Midlands
	Pialli Ray, Sampad
	Natalie Wint Youth Delegate
	Jean Nicholson, Birmingham Opera Company
	Chris Saint, West Midlands Local Government Association and Regional Assembly
	Amayra Fuller, Youth Delegate
	Shalia Sharif, Youth Delegate
	Deb Rudge, University of Central England

Departmental Equipment

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many of her Department's  (a) computers and  (b) laptops were stolen in each of the last nine years; and what the total value was of stolen computers and laptops in this period.

David Lammy: In each of the last nine years my Department has had the following laptops and computers stolen:
	2001: one laptop ( approximately £1,250) and one computer (approximately £1,000).
	2002: two laptops (approximately £1,309 each) and three computers (approximately £1,185 each).
	2003: one laptop (approximately £1,400 each) and three computers (approximately £1,250 each).
	The total value of stolen computers and laptops was approximately £13,573. (We do not hold the exact figures. The values quoted are based on other, similar items purchased at the time).
	There were no computers or laptops stolen in 2006, 2005, 2004, 2000, 1999 and 1998.

Digital Switchover

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to her answer of 22 November 2006,  Official Report, column 113W, on digital switchover, what factors contributed to the increase in eligibility for targeted assistance from the 6.5 million reported in the Government Response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee's Report on Analogue Switch-Off, presented to Parliament in June 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: The estimate of the number of households eligible for assistance from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme covers the period from the end of 2007 with the Switchover in Whitehaven until the end of 2012.
	The estimate is based on benefit statistics published by DWP and adjusted by future forecasts of the number of over 75 households, and the number of people receiving the qualifying disability benefits. The most recent estimates—revised since June 2006—take account of more recent DWP data, including revisions to forecasts of disability benefit and pension credit and the proportion of households.

Historic Ships

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made on development of  (a) an advisory committee and  (b) a policy on historic ships; and whether (i) the acquisition of new vessels and (ii) the support of privately-owned vessels are covered by the policy in its current state of development.

David Lammy: The chair of the Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships, Dr. Robert Prescott, was appointed by the Minister for Culture on 12 April 2006, and eight committee members were appointed on 12 July 2006: Roger Hanbury, John Kearon, Dr. Campbell McMurray, David Newberry, Martin Parr, John Robinson, Matthew Tanner and Captain Simon Waite. Further appointment processes are being undertaken to select committee members to represent Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
	It is not the Government's policy to provide funding for historic ships directly, other than through grant-in-aid to centrally funded museums which hold vessels of historic significance in their collection. However, through the activities of the Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships, the Government aim to deliver a policy which enables the identification of priorities for the preservation of historic vessels; ensures that guidance on preservation and recording strategies is widely available; and promotes public interest in ships, and their educational value. The committee will therefore advise the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on national historic ship preservation and funding priorities. It will also provide leadership and strategic vision across the national historic ships community and wider maritime sector by acting as a focus for advice on aspects of preservation, helping both public and private owners achieve a sustainable future for their historic vessels. The committee is currently consulting on its document 'Understanding Historic Vessels', which is a first step in establishing criteria through which historic ships can be properly recorded, understood and, wherever possible, preserved.
	Capital funding for historic ship projects will continue to be dealt with by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and other public and private grant-giving bodies. However, the committee will act as a source of advice to the HLF on preservation priorities and individual applications it receives to fund historic ships, and to other public funding bodies.
	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has provided funding for the running costs of the committee from 2005-06 to 2007-08, and in 2006-08 there is allowance for a revenue challenge fund of £80,000 per annum to support activities relating to the preservation of historic vessels.

Horserace Betting Levy Board

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how funds raised by the Horserace Betting Levy Board were spent in 2005-06; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: Full details are set out in the Levy Board's annual report, a copy of which is available in the House library. A copy is also available via the Board's website: www.hblb.org.uk <http://www.hblb.org.uk>.

Land Sales

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to page 107 of her Department's annual report, what the  (a) value and  (b) previous use was of (i) the land due to be sold off to the north of the British Library and (ii) the five residential properties in Windsor; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: The information is as follows:
	(i) The land to the north of the British Library St. Pancras was professionally revalued at £26.6million as at 31 March 2006.
	The whole of the site of the former Somers Town Goods Yard was acquired for the original 1970s design of the British Library. The revised design of the Library completed in 1997 left the land to the north undeveloped.
	The southern part of the site is currently leased to the British Library Board for car parking. The northern part of this site has been subject to a planning block under the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, and has been under temporary possession by CTRL as a working site for construction of the adjacent St. Pancras International terminal. The valuation takes account of this planning block.
	(ii) The freeholds of five properties in Windsor are held in the name of the Secretary of State. The leases are owned by private individuals who have long-term leaseholds for each property. Negotiations are continuing with the leaseholders over individual sales. One freehold was sold in May 2006 for £44,000.

Leak Inquiries

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on how many occasions her Department has conducted a leak inquiry since May 1997; what the subjects of those leak inquiries were; and who authorised each inquiry.

David Lammy: The Department has conducted two inquiries since May 1997.
	It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment on the subject or outcome of leak inquiries as there is a continued necessity to safeguard security and investigative arrangements.

National Lottery

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of National Lottery grants awarded since May 1997 have funded areas outside the original remit of the Lottery.

Richard Caborn: The remit of the Lottery is to raise money for the good causes. Originally there were five good causes of sports, arts, heritage and celebration of the third millennium.
	In 1998 a fifth good cause of 'health, education and the environment' was created. Until its dissolution into the Big Lottery Fund on 1 December, the New Opportunities Fund was the only organisation that could distribute Lottery money under this good cause.
	Since its inception, the New Opportunities Fund has awarded 37,000 grants, or 15 per cent. of the 252,000 National Lottery grants made by all distributors.
	This information is derived from the Department's Lottery award database, searchable at www.lottery.culture.gov.uk, which uses information supplied by the Lottery distributors.

National Sports Foundation

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent progress has been made by the National Sports Foundation in developing new sports facilities; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The National Sports Foundation was established in April 2006 with three key priorities: getting more children and young people into sport, involving more women playing sport, and investment into clubs, coaches and volunteers in local communities. Within these priorities, the NSF has provisionally awarded 1,588,000 towards developing new sports facilities.

Physical Activity

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what definitions of moderate physical activity were used in  (a) the Government's Game Plan 2002 and  (b) Sport England's Active People survey 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The definition of 'moderate intensity' used in both Game Plan and Sport England's Active People survey is the same and refers to activity which is enough to cause an increase in breathing rate. The Active People survey measures 'activity' in sport and active recreation as defined in the Department's public service agreement (PSA) target. The Game Plan definition of 'activity' is broader and includes for example, gardening, household work and DIY.

Private Finance Initiatives

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 30 November 2006,  Official Report, columns 809-10W, on private finance initiatives (PFI), what the time scale is over which her Department will pay PFI credits for each project; and what the total estimated cost is of contributions by her Department to repayments for each project over the length of the contract.

David Lammy: The following table lists each of the Department's 12 projects, the time scale over which the Department will pay PFI credits for each projects and the total estimated cost of contributions by DCMS to repayments over the length of the contract.
	
		
			  Project location/local authority  Time scale over which DCMS will pay PFI credits (years)  Total estimated cost of contributions by DCMS to repayments over the length of the contract (£ million) 
			 Amber Valley 34 17.5 
			 Bournemouth 30 6 
			 Breckland 32.5 9.5 
			 Brent 25 14.3 
			 Brighton and Hove 25 11.93 
			 Croydon 30 4.6 
			 Lewisham 32 12.659 
			 Oldham 25 13 
			 Penwith 30 6.4 
			 Sefton 25 6.2 
			 Uttlesford 33 5.8 
			 Wolverhampton 30 10.9

Procurement Projects

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 597W, on procurement projects, who the recipients were of the funding for the  (a) Olympic Games Impact Study of Ceremonial Requirements,  (b) non-departmental public bodies' programmes,  (c) validation of Olympic Games costs study,  (d) culture online feasibility study,  (e) project management training,  (f) BBC consultancy requirement,  (g) study to identify the priorities of local communities,  (h) the provision of a skill audit solution and  (i) management of a 360-degree feedback system; and what the purpose of each project was.

David Lammy: Please note that pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 597W, on procurement projects, this was printed incorrectly and that part  (a) of the question relates to two separate projects.
	 (a) The contract for an Olympic Games impact study was awarded to Economics for the Environment Consultancy Ltd. The purpose of the project was to assess the likely economic, social and environmental benefits of hosting the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in London 2012, and to develop strategies to achieve and maximise benefits across the UK.
	The contract for the management of ceremonial requirements was awarded to EC Harris. The purpose of this contract was to provide work management services for state visits, Remembrance Sunday and other ceremonial events.
	 (b) Contracts for the review of non-departmental public bodies programmes were awarded to Capita Business Services Ltd., Lorien Consulting, and Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF). The purpose of the project was to ensure that NDPBs were delivering maximum value for public money.
	 (c) The contract for the validation of Olympic Games costs was awarded to KPMG. The purpose of this contract was to provide advice on the cost of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
	 (d) The contract for a feasibility study into formation of Culture Online was awarded to McKinsey & Company. The purpose of the project was to provide an assessment of the need for Culture Online.
	 (e) The contract for project management training was awarded to the National School for Government. The purpose of the project was to develop and deliver a major programme of programme and project-based working training for all DCMS staff.
	 (f) The contract for a BBC consultancy was awarded to Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF). The purpose of the project was to examine the current and potential efficiencies of the BBC and to analyze the BBC's licence fee bid.
	 (g) The contract for the study to identify priorities of local communities was awarded to PA Consulting. The purpose of the project was to deliver a new strategic framework to maximise the way in which DCMS identifies, and responds to, the priorities of local communities.
	 (h) The contract for the provision of a skills audit was awarded to Hay Group. The purpose of the project was to identify the skill and knowledge base of the Department, in order to inform future learning and development strategies and facilitate the sharing of knowledge and good practice.
	 (i) The contract for the management of a 360 degree feedback system was awarded to ASK Europe plc. The purpose of the project was to develop and deliver a reporting mechanism for 360 degree feedback that would improve management performance across the Department.

Procurement Projects

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 597W, on procurement projects, for which projects funding to Touchstone Change Management Consultancy was made.

David Lammy: The contract for the Touchstone change management consultancy was awarded to Stanton Marris. The purpose of the project was to develop and deliver a cultural change strategy for DCMS.

Procurement Projects

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 597W, on procurement projects, who the recipients were of the funding for the Evaluation of National Regional Museums.

David Lammy: The contract to evaluate National Regional Museums was awarded to the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester.

Public Service Broadcasting

Anne Moffat: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps the Government is taking to encourage a continued public service commitment in the independent broadcasting sector.

David Lammy: The Government are committed to maintaining a healthy public service broadcasting sector within a dynamic and competitive market place.
	The Communications Act, places a specific duty on Ofcom to maintain and strengthen the quality of public service television broadcasting. It is obliged to undertake periodic reviews of the sector, the next of which is set to be completed by 2009-10.

Radio Frequencies

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the proposals are for selling the Radio frequencies used for wireless microphones used in entertainment and the voluntary sector; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: Ofcom manage the spectrum used for programme making and special events, which is currently licensed by JFMG under contract to Ofcom until 2008.
	On 17 November Ofcom announced 2005 the beginning of the Digital Dividend Review project to examine the options arising from the release of spectrum afforded by the digital switchover programme. The DDR project also includes consideration of the spectrum currently being used by the PMSE sector. Ofcom is planning to issue a consultation on the 19 December.

Rural Areas

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what programmes of support her Department makes available to rural areas; and what the financial cost of those programmes is expected to be in 2007-08.

David Lammy: Our aim to improve the quality of life through cultural and sporting activities applies to both rural and urban areas. Funding is distributed through several sponsored bodies. These include Arts Council England, Sport England, English Heritage and Visit Britain. These in turn deliver funding across a number of activities and institutions. We are not able to attribute national spending specifically to rural programmes.
	Renaissance in the Regions is an example of how our programmes benefit rural communities. This programme benefits groups of museums, including the Renaissance Hubs, with grants to Subject Specialist Networks and through the Museum Development Fund. These include projects in isolated communities in the North East Northumberland, Cumbria and East Anglia, in Cornwall, East Yorkshire and Shropshire.

School Sport

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department has provided for competitive sport in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: As part of the National School Sport Strategy, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Skills are establishing a network of competition managers across the country to improve the quality and quantity of competitive sport in schools through the local implementation of the National School Competition Framework.
	The first wave of 20 competition managers were appointed from September 2005. In their first academic year, they created 690 new competitions involving nearly 40,000 young people. We are currently recruiting a further 42 competition managers. We expect to have at least 90 competition managers in place by the end of 2007.
	In addition, we have also established the UK School games, a multi-sport event for talented school age children. The inaugural event was held in Glasgow between 7 and 10 September. The 2007 games will be held in Coventry. Our aim is that this event will become the pinnacle of school sport competition and used to develop the content, structure and presentation of competitive sporting opportunities for young people.

School Sport

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to focus on ethnic minorities under the School Sport Partnerships programme.

Richard Caborn: The Government are committed to developing a culture that enables and values the full involvement of all children and young people. The National School Sport strategy is creating equal opportunities in which all children and young people can participate in high quality PE and school sport by responding to the diverse learning needs, capabilities, and preferences of all children and young people.
	As from September 2006 all maintained schools in England are in one of the 450 live School Sport Partnerships. The 2005-06 school sport survey showed that 80 per cent. of pupils were doing at least two hours of high quality PE and school sport per week, exceeding the joint DCMS/DfES PSA target of 75 per cent.
	We will continue to work with our key delivery agent, the Youth Sport Trust, to ensure that resources and support are targeted at Partnerships where achievement is lowest, including those areas with high ethnic minority populations.

School Sport

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what the results were of the most recent Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links survey of improvements in opportunities in PE and school sport for disabled young people;
	(2)  if she will undertake an audit of disabled pupils' participation in PE and sport;
	(3)  how she plans to use the information gathered in the Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links survey in relation to gifted and talented pupils to support the Paralympics in London 2012;
	(4)  what systems are in place for  (a) disabled children and  (b) those newly acquiring a disability to gain access to sport (i) in school and (ii) in the community; and what assessment she has made of the extent to which those systems are adequate to meet the medal aspirations for the Paralympics in London 2012.

Richard Caborn: The National School Sport Strategy is creating equal opportunities in which all young people can participate in high quality PE and school sport by responding to the diverse learning needs, capabilities and preferences.
	An analysis of the School Sport Survey 2005-06 shows that 82 per cent. of all pupils in special schools, which are schools provided by local authorities for certain children with special educational needs are now receiving two hours high quality PE and sport per week. This is above the national average of 80 per cent.
	All schools are now in one of the 450 School Sport Partnerships. There are 11 special schools which are Specialist Sports Colleges and eight of these act as hub sites for their School Sport Partnership. These schools are leading the way on curriculum development, teaching and learning as well as ensuring this expertise is shared. In addition, there are 110 School Sport Co-ordinators based within these special schools and their role is to support networks of other special schools and advise mainstream schools on developing high quality opportunities beyond the curriculum time and links to community activities.
	A national working group comprising the Youth Sport Trust, Sport England, UK Sport and the British Paralympic Association have been working in partnership to create a playground to podium framework. The framework combines the expertise and functions of these four agencies along with Governing Bodies of Sport, Disability Sport Organisations, School Sport and County Sport Partnerships to ensure England is able to identify and support talent leading to the 2012 Paralympic Games. The framework is due to be released in February 2007.
	In addition, the Government have also funded the development of the new Paralympic Education Resource "Ability vs Ability" which is a web-based cross-curricular resource developed by the BPA and the NASUWT. The project aims to raise awareness of disability, disability sport and the Paralympic movement through education.
	The inaugural UK School Games was held in Glasgow in September 2006. The UKSG will be held annually to 2011 providing opportunities for talented young athletes to showcase their skills as well as giving them the experience of competing in a multi-sport event. The 2006 event featured two disability sports—swimming and athletics—and provision for disability sports will increase in future years.
	There are also a number of specific schemes aimed at supporting talented disabled athletes which will contribute towards our target to be first in the Paralympic medal table in 2012. The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) enables talented athletes to continue in their sport beyond the age of 16 while pursuing further or higher education. TASS 2012, a strand of the TASS programme, supports our most talented 12 to 18-year-olds in a variety of Olympic, Paralympic, non-Olympic and non-Paralympic sports. Between 2004 and 2008, Government will have committed £17 million to TASS and TASS 2012.

South Bank Centre

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding her Department provided to the South Bank Centre in 2005-06, broken down by main budget heading.

David Lammy: As one of its regularly funded organisations, Arts Council England's revenue grant to the South Bank Centre was £17,948,586 during 2005-06. The Centre received £438,000 from the council in relation to the care of the Arts Council Collection and the purchase of new work. The council has also advanced £5 million from the 2006-07 revenue grant.
	The centre has received £2 million of capital funding during 2005-06 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport towards the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall. This was part of a one-off £5 million payment completed in 2006.
	During the period of the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall, due to be completed in summer 2007, the council will have provided £25,383,000 of capital lottery funding, in addition to £5 million funding directly related to closure and change management costs.

Think Tank

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost to date has been of the think tank established within her Strategy Division; and which non-civil servants participate in the work of the think tank.

David Lammy: The estimated annual cost of the think tank within the Strategy Division is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2004-05 58,190 
			 2005-06 86,349 
			 2006-07 61,462 
			  Note: DCMS staff costs are calculated using current capitation rates. 
		
	
	The think tank is currently staffed by DCMS civil servants. Non civil servants participate in its work through presentations and attendance at think tank seminars. They include academics, staff of our sponsored bodies, members of external think tanks and other external experts from the Third Sector.

Wembley Stadium

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the projected cost to the public purse of Wembley National Stadium was  (a) at the outset of the project,  (b) in 1995,  (c) in 2000 and  (d) in 2005; and what the most recent total projected cost of (i) the project and (ii) the associated public realm improvements are.

Richard Caborn: The anticipated public sector contributions to the Wembley stadium project were, respectively:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 1994 (project outset) (1)— 
			 1995 120 
			 2000 120 
			 2005 161 
			 (1) Not determined 
		
	
	The anticipated overall project cost is £757 million plus any additional costs arising out of the recently announced commercial settlement between Wembley National Stadium Ltd and Multiplex. The detail of the commercial settlement is a matter for those organisations. The projected cost to the public sector remains at £161 million.

1001 Inventions Exhibition

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what funds her Department provided for the development of the  (a) exhibition 1001 Inventions and  (b) schools education pack accompanying the exhibition;
	(2)  where the 1001 Inventions exhibition toured; how long it spent in each location; and what the future itinerary is for the exhibition;
	(3)  how many people have been to see the 1001 Inventions exhibition.

Phil Woolas: Funding was awarded (£200,000 for the exhibition and £20,000 for the teaching pack) by the Cohesion and Faiths Unit when it was part of the Home Office. The Unit transferred to Communities and Local Government in the recent Machinery of Government changes.
	The exhibition was based at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester from its launch on 7 March 2006 until the 3 September 2006. The exhibition opened at the National Museum in Cardiff on 24 October and will run until 4 February 2007. Negotiations are currently under way to take the exhibition to Glasgow and Birmingham.
	As entrance to the exhibition is free, detailed records of visitor attendance are not available.
	Additional information on the exhibition is available through the website www.1001inventions.com

Affordable Homes

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes have been built over the last two years.

Yvette Cooper: In England, 77,448 affordable homes (ie those at submarket prices or rents) were provided in the two years 2004-06. These were either new build or acquisition and refurbishment and were provided through a variety of funded programmes, including an estimate of the affordable homes provided without grant through Section 106.

Communications Masts

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidelines have been issued by her Department on planning permission for  (a) mobile telephone masts and  (b) other communications masts.

Meg Munn: Current planning guidance on electronic communications is set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 8: Telecommunications (PPG8), last revised in August 2001. PPG8 refers to all electronic communications apparatus, not just mobile phone masts.
	PPG8 includes national policies for the protection of the countryside and residential areas, in particular our National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
	The installation of any communications mast in such areas, and of a mast of more than 15 metres in height elsewhere, requires planning permission. Any such planning application will be decided by the local planning authority (or the Secretary of State on appeal) in the light of development plan policies and any other material considerations, including any relevant representations either for or against the proposal.

Community Cohesion

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to encourage the use of the English language in England in order to improve community cohesion.

Phil Woolas: Yes. A key element of the Government's strategy to increase race equality and community cohesion is 'development of strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds and circumstances in the workplace, in schools and within neighbourhoods'. Ability to understand and converse in a common language is essential for all members of society, increasing educational outcomes and employment prospects and the ease with which people can carry out their day-to-day life.
	The Government actively promote language proficiency in programmes of the Department for Education and Skills and Home Office. For example, since 2001 we have invested over £1 billion in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL); over 1.8 million ESOL learning opportunities have been taken up and over 160,000 learners have achieved a first Skills for Life ESOL qualification. Also, prospective British citizens are required to show a specified level of language competence (as well as knowledge of life in the UK); it was announced on 4 December that from 2 April 2007 this will be extended to those seeking permanent settlement.

Departmental Travel

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff members in her Department were authorised to travel abroad on official business in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Angela Smith: There were 411 Communities and Local Government staff were authorised to travel abroad on official business in the last financial year, primarily within the EU.

Domestic Energy Assessors

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the balance struck in the syllabus for national occupational standard for domestic energy assessors between health and safety and other issues.

Yvette Cooper: The development of the national occupational standard for domestic energy assessors (DBAs) has involved extensive consultation with industry, where all stakeholders have had the opportunity to comment on the content of the standard. It is now for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to ensure that the right balance has been struck before granting approval.

Fire and Rescue Service

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance she has given to the fire and rescue authorities on the recording and reporting of their response times to incidents.

Angela Smith: Fire and rescue services record details of incidents attended on the Department's FDRl and FDR3 returns. The data from these returns are the basis for the fire incident National Statistics collection which covers fires and false alarms attended by fire and rescue services.
	Information on response times is collected on the FDR1 return, which covers primary fires attended by fire and rescue services. A primary fire covers fires in buildings, vehicles and outdoor structures; or any fire involving casualties, rescues; or fires attended by five or more appliances.
	For primary fires, fire and rescue services report three response times:
	Time of first call to brigade—defined as 'the time that the first call to the fire was received by fire control'
	Time mobilised—defined as 'the time when the [fire control] operator finished transmitting the mobilising message (pressed 'send' button)'
	Time of arrival at fire—defined as 'the time when the first appliance arrived at the fire ground'
	Times are recorded in hours and minutes, for example, 3.45.
	At present, response times are not collected centrally for other incidents attended by fire and rescue services. These other incidents comprise false alarms, secondary fires and non fire incidents such as road traffic collisions. However, a new electronic incident recording system (IRS) which is currently being piloted in 9 fire and rescue areas will collect response times for these types of incident in future.

Fire and Rescue Service

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many road accidents the Fire and Rescue Service attended in each fire authority area in each year since 1994; and how many people were rescued from their vehicles in each year.

Angela Smith: The information available is for the period 1995-96 to 2004-05 and is provided in the tables.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of road traffic incidents attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in England, 1995-96 
			   1995-96  1996-97  1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000 
			 Avon 669 644 679 663 657 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 253 313 288 342 363 
			 Buckinghamshire 335 438 437 475 528 
			 Cambridgeshire 565 609 669 596 664 
			 Cheshire 597 654 700 702 711 
			 Cleveland 294 349 473 402 431 
			 Cornwall 259 275 322 348 352 
			 County Durham and Darlington 287 304 343 340 253 
			 Cumbria 268 270 273 271 328 
			 Derbyshire 478 553 541 558 587 
			 Devon 679 772 804 783 901 
			 Dorset 720 357 377 370 417 
			 East Sussex 501 557 477 472 564 
			 Essex 907 1,012 1,050 969 1,097 
			 Gloucestershire 282 343 383 401 454 
			 Greater Manchester 1,255 1,275 1,369 1,271 1,344 
			 Hampshire 822 822 830 1,118 1,064 
			 Hereford and Worcester 504 537 562 542 564 
			 Hertfordshire 413 465 495 546 554 
			 Humberside 364 490 506 518 487 
			 Isle Of Wight 53 68 58 59 68 
			 Isles Of Scilly 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Kent 926 940 1,037 1,026 1,184 
			 Lancashire 569 571 725 670 736 
			 Leicestershire 820 653 693 733 782 
			 Lincolnshire 419 466 485 499 483 
			 London 5,019 5,088 5,026 5,073 5,195 
			 Merseyside 637 719 737 111 844 
			 Norfolk 514 513 599 574 566 
			 North Yorkshire 429 458 521 538 520 
			 Northamptonshire 395 393 447 454 472 
			 Northumberland 174 185 220 213 367 
			 Nottinghamshire 595 577 759 683 758 
			 Oxfordshire 295 357 397 386 475 
			 Royal Berkshire 583 526 410 495 607 
			 Shropshire 249 263 297 290 298 
			 Somerset 414 430 419 424 503 
			 South Yorkshire 678 622 648 751 737 
			 Staffordshire 719 745 795 750 730 
			 Suffolk 247 337 374 364 397 
			 Surrey 567 640 821 757 858 
			 Tyne and Wear 508 447 511 432 456 
			 Warwickshire 308 266 353 452 440 
			 West Midlands 1,950 1,569 1,685 1,638 1,810 
			 West Sussex 554 604 672 674 671 
			 West Yorkshire 965 881 829 968 982 
			 Wiltshire 415 494 535 550 574 
			 Total 29,454 29,851 31,631 31,918 33,833 
		
	
	
		
			   2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05 
			 Avon 1,005 941 903 1,000 912 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 381 436 436 426 446 
			 Buckinghamshire 482 466 507 507 548 
			 Cambridgeshire 707 767 792 779 790 
			 Cheshire 701 691 741 736 779 
			 Cleveland 488 417 471 515 498 
			 Cornwall 487 453 510 506 552 
			 County Durham and Darlington 332 317 354 378 395 
			 Cumbria 306 382 421 381 360 
			 Derbyshire 559 619 661 685 660 
			 Devon 1,039 1,060 1,054 1,046 1,156 
			 Dorset 437 465 509 476 536 
			 East Sussex 566 593 664 732 713 
			 Essex 1,230 1,173 1,254 1,354 1,493 
			 Gloucestershire 444 509 545 579 613 
			 Greater Manchester 1,221 1,277 1,508 1,575 1,581 
			 Hampshire 1,151 1,203 1,461 1,347 1,330 
			 Hereford and Worcester 567 623 659 605 716 
			 Hertfordshire 543 595 582 554 601 
			 Humberside 463 583 664 664 644 
			 Isle Of Wight 92 110 93 95 137 
			 Isles Of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Kent 1,221 1,324 1,353 1,390 1,306 
			 Lancashire 756 763 862 880 924 
			 Leicestershire 800 802 880 810 853 
			 Lincolnshire 535 602 695 678 693 
			 London 5,403 5,792 5,683 5,439 5,349 
			 Merseyside 893 887 1,032 865 941 
			 Norfolk 509 544 626 580 597 
			 North Yorkshire 544 644 612 697 690 
			 Northamptonshire 467 454 484 586 571 
			 Northumberland 257 255 238 251 285 
			 Nottinghamshire 711 759 845 845 772 
			 Oxfordshire 467 487 558 465 464 
			 Royal Berkshire 548 614 623 630 662 
			 Shropshire 309 342 358 323 373 
			 Somerset 506 590 575 544 582 
			 South Yorkshire 802 854 921 1,027 1,128 
			 Staffordshire 729 787 874 946 962 
			 Suffolk 444 482 527 496 453 
			 Surrey 919 920 1,062 1,109 1,108 
			 Tyne and Wear 482 496 512 530 468 
			 Warwickshire 524 544 533 548 624 
			 West Midlands 2,013 2,252 2,423 2,429 2,282 
			 West Sussex 722 769 842 848 883 
			 West Yorkshire 886 1,076 1,088 1,069 1,024 
			 Wiltshire 624 631 729 625 657 
			 Total 35,272 37,350 39,721 39,550 40,111 
			 (1) The figures provided by the fire and rescue services excluded incidents during the period of industrial action. To account for the industrial action the figures presented have been factored up by 365/350. Figures are rounded and may not sum to the independently rounded total.  Source: Fire and Rescue Service returns to Department for Communities and Local Government. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Road traffic incidents attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in England that involved the rescue of persons 1995-96 to 2004-05 
			   1995-6  1996-97  1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000 
			 Avon 169 184 165 149 149 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 81 97 98 95 108 
			 Buckinghamshire 99 146 132 165 166 
			 Cambridgeshire 175 174 197 162 187 
			 Cheshire 210 207 219 181 174 
			 Cleveland 48 65 87 77 92 
			 Cornwall 64 68 93 94 81 
			 County Durham and Darlington 105 106 118 93 79 
			 Cumbria 92 96 97 79 115 
			 Derbyshire 179 176 190 203 194 
			 Devon 137 149 146 163 167 
			 Dorset 110 77 114 110 118 
			 East Sussex 134 141 143 160 163 
			 Essex 324 336 322 259 269 
			 Gloucestershire 101 128 121 128 152 
			 Greater Manchester 286 280 272 309 341 
			 Hampshire 176 176 200 249 255 
			 Hereford & Worcester 113 150 155 218 193 
			 Hertfordshire 107 130 110 170 153 
			 Humberside 85 212 145 149 115 
			 Isle Of Wight 15 14 16 17 15 
			 Isles Of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Kent 202 205 303 559 273 
			 Lancashire 200 373 240 299 280 
			 Leicestershire 168 154 154 181 196 
			 Lincolnshire 149 206 189 231 203 
			 London 523 612 576 658 1,026 
			 Merseyside 143 115 148 128 156 
			 Norfolk 176 147 186 186 201 
			 North Yorkshire 146 172 161 171 153 
			 Northamptonshire 144 126 148 159 159 
			 Northumberland 46 62 69 62 73 
			 Nottinghamshire 222 236 276 211 215 
			 Oxfordshire 89 106 126 128 141 
			 Royal Berkshire 150 121 90 163 146 
			 Shropshire 86 82 92 84 74 
			 Somerset 119 114 100 108 125 
			 South Yorkshire 143 149 138 163 164 
			 Staffordshire 184 188 214 186 188 
			 Suffolk 92 123 104 109 139 
			 Surrey 102 129 194 186 208 
			 Tyne & Wear 149 107 127 123 118 
			 Warwickshire 94 121 121 120 122 
			 West Midlands 254 245 295 316 320 
			 West Sussex 174 196 159 165 94 
			 West Yorkshire 258 249 223 287 308 
			 Wiltshire 95 105 124 139 121 
			 Total 6,918 7,555 7,697 8,352 8,489 
		
	
	
		
			   2000-01  2001-02  2002-03( 1)  2003-04  2004-05 
			 Avon 255 246 262 330 348 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 128 130 119 103 115 
			 Buckinghamshire 155 144 137 168 201 
			 Cambridgeshire 207 206 225 94 236 
			 Cheshire 182 152 184 189 190 
			 Cleveland 93 68 63 73 78 
			 Cornwall 123 109 142 122 127 
			 County Durham and Darlington 110 109 112 117 106 
			 Cumbria 94 139 136 110 110 
			 Derbyshire 181 179 187 186 188 
			 Devon 192 190 205 218 218 
			 Dorset 125 121 53 117 138 
			 East Sussex 162 159 434 486 179 
			 Essex 294 332 291 328 520 
			 Gloucestershire 164 162 177 154 161 
			 Greater Manchester 388 721 339 316 313 
			 Hampshire 323 270 390 333 332 
			 Hereford & Worcester 195 185 204 191 247 
			 Hertfordshire 149 159 145 115 127 
			 Humberside 132 158 152 183 162 
			 Isle Of Wight 22 23 22 21 31 
			 Isles Of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Kent 269 284 281 270 276 
			 Lancashire 289 268 318 317 298 
			 Leicestershire 189 203 178 190 196 
			 Lincolnshire 207 246 260 248 225 
			 London 1,214 1,245 1,163 1,104 1,081 
			 Merseyside 136 122 133 133 138 
			 Norfolk 177 211 238 217 272 
			 North Yorkshire 167 208 165 162 158 
			 Northamptonshire 154 134 152 157 129 
			 Northumberland 56 66 63 59 77 
			 Nottinghamshire 235 238 256 225 210 
			 Oxfordshire 98 120 142 99 110 
			 Royal Berkshire 154 144 123 130 143 
			 Shropshire 78 98 99 83 86 
			 Somerset 128 148 105 138 132 
			 South Yorkshire 176 166 178 200 237 
			 Staffordshire 175 155 221 222 222 
			 Suffolk 166 144 186 176 179 
			 Surrey 217 213 237 230 235 
			 Tyne & Wear 112 118 106 112 99 
			 Warwickshire 129 170 143 262 201 
			 West Midlands 357 354 379 351 373 
			 West Sussex 90 129 159 150 176 
			 West Yorkshire 290 329 311 321 304 
			 Wiltshire 142 166 201 163 203 
			 Total 9,079 9,641 9,772 9,673 9,887 
			 (1) The figures provided by the fire and rescue services excluded incidents during the period of industrial action. To account for the industrial action the figures presented have been factored up by 365/350. Figures are rounded and may not sum to the independently rounded total.  Source:  Fire and Rescue Service returns to Department for Communities and Local Government

Fire and Rescue Service

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) chemical and  (b) fuel (i) spills and (ii) suspected spills the Fire and Rescue Service in each fire authority area attended in each year since 1994.

Angela Smith: The information available is for spills and leaks other than at road traffic incidents, and covers the period 1995-96 to 2004-05. This includes stand by or assisting at spillages by chemicals, fuel or other kind of chemical/hazardous spills. Information on attendances to suspected spills is not held centrally.
	
		
			  Number of spills and leaks incidents (other than road traffic incidents) attended by fire and rescue services 1995-96 to2004-05 
			   1995-96  1996-97  1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000 
			 Avon 523 484 506 551 499 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 74 61 49 66 84 
			 Buckinghamshire 174 153 186 170 158 
			 Cambridgeshire 296 298 305 264 302 
			 Cheshire 195 176 201 158 187 
			 Cleveland 265 250 279 226 300 
			 Cornwall 114 115 95 132 140 
			 County Durham and Darlington 130 98 116 98 115 
			 Cumbria 80 68 67 39 55 
			 Derbyshire 186 225 174 211 227 
			 Devon 409 352 377 379 336 
			 Dorset 244 183 191 178 212 
			 East Sussex 538 424 541 531 604 
			 Essex 459 477 539 587 526 
			 Gloucestershire 190 221 166 145 160 
			 Greater Manchester 307 330 372 311 404 
			 Hampshire 499 443 413 378 430 
			 Hereford and Worcester 151 116 195 273 236 
			 Hertfordshire 88 83 74 57 73 
			 Humberside 371 227 420 414 414 
			 Isle of Wight 75 58 41 47 40 
			 Isles of Scilly 1 1 0 0 1 
			 Kent 467 453 379 397 404 
			 Lancashire 446 437 505 510 412 
			 Leicestershire 49 304 248 214 321 
			 Lincolnshire 137 166 186 148 91 
			 London 1,515 2,305 1,840 1,964 581 
			 Merseyside 291 227 194 192 307 
			 Norfolk 261 185 269 216 185 
			 North Yorkshire 196 177 215 199 220 
			 Northamptonshire 199 184 155 163 180 
			 Northumberland 83 55 51 38 75 
			 Nottinghamshire 221 239 268 251 287 
			 Oxfordshire 130 142 200 143 207 
			 Royal Berkshire 188 197 17 135 188 
			 Shropshire 86 95 93 83 56 
			 Somerset 148 125 166 156 177 
			 South Yorkshire 452 319 322 299 329 
			 Staffordshire 293 230 266 283 137 
			 Suffolk 139 175 139 122 26 
			 Surrey 137 141 249 200 293 
			 Tyne and Wear 221 184 208 219 219 
			 Warwickshire 132 101 164 114 91 
			 West Midlands 628 961 976 926 1,034 
			 West Sussex 223 399 363 316: 424 
			 West Yorkshire 286 198 193 164 219 
			 Wiltshire 141 154 180 197 194 
			 Total 12,438 12,996 13,153 12,864 12,160 
		
	
	
		
			   2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05 
			 Avon 399 779 559 542 374 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 130 143 165 102 96 
			 Buckinghamshire 164 190 170 183 152 
			 Cambridgeshire 318 347 282 174 163 
			 Cheshire 186 215 179 155 132 
			 Cleveland 332 346 314 250 231 
			 Cornwall 129 126 126 140 132 
			 County Durham and Darlington 115 107 99 114 116 
			 Cumbria 63 49 74 50 34 
			 Derbyshire 263 251 252 194 177 
			 Devon 392 442 383 389 297 
			 Dorset 204 216 238 203 179 
			 East Sussex 501 458 404 347 256 
			 Essex 666 531 668 591 536 
			 Gloucestershire 213 234 194 219 149 
			 Greater Manchester 554 963 555 568 475 
			 Hampshire 491 432 386 324 240 
			 Hereford and Worcester 279 276 258 235 193 
			 Hertfordshire 47 60 41 36 55 
			 Humberside 465 515 374 309 227 
			 Isle of Wight 42 58 32 40 28 
			 Isles of Scilly 0 2 0 2 1 
			 Kent 420 461 466 416 335 
			 Lancashire 468 370 332 299 284 
			 Leicestershire 366 305 342 263 217 
			 Lincolnshire 68 71 126 155 144 
			 London 435 464 463 346 336 
			 Merseyside 248 201 128 197 126 
			 Norfolk 196 205 198 164 158 
			 North Yorkshire 266 251 256 233 240 
			 Northamptonshire 272 262 266 215 162 
			 Northumberland 75 74 57 58 39 
			 Nottinghamshire 406 445 406 302 269 
			 Oxfordshire 181 160 155 150 139 
			 Royal Berkshire 234 191 148 171 109 
			 Shropshire 94 86 62 66 59 
			 Somerset 175 210 194 190 140 
			 South Yorkshire 367 444 349 319 237 
			 Staffordshire 198 228 244 157 175 
			 Suffolk 128 172 153 142 120 
			 Surrey 265 293 253 240 225 
			 Tyne and Wear 181 167 162 162 150 
			 Warwickshire 171 161 134 151 139 
			 West Midlands 1,471 1,295 1,114 887 835 
			 West Sussex 367 348 295 271 216 
			 West Yorkshire 318 337 308 245 229 
			 Wiltshire 206 199 210 223 162 
			 Total 13,529 14,140 12,574 11,189 9,488 
			  Source: Fire and Rescue Service returns to Department for Communities and Local Government

Fire and Rescue Service

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many incidents attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in each fire authority area in each year since 1994 required standby or precautionary measures to be implemented because of a potentially hazardous situation.

Angela Smith: The information available is for the period 1995-96 to 2004-05 and is in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of standby or precautionary actions in potentially hazardous situations taken by Rescue Services 1995-96 to 2004-05 
			   1995-96  1996-97  1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05 
			 Avon 8 11 13 9 11 9 6 1 4 3 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 29 32 47 32 38 30 31 13 14 7 
			 Buckinghamshire 26 13 14 10 17 19 16 15 13 7 
			 Cambridgeshire 55 47 56 51 48 61 58 21 18 19 
			 Cheshire 17 31 22 12 24 15 12 9 5 4 
			 Cleveland 91 33 35 57 22 17 28 22 26 81 
			 Cornwall 115 123 134 83 145 67 68 51 45 56 
			 County Durham and Darlington 14 9 6 9 5 7 5 4 6 4 
			 Cumbria 31 23 27 21 11 25 20 22 25 10 
			 Derbyshire 12 4 8 3 2 3 3 9 4 7 
			 Devon 75 91 81 85 107 103 106 64 62 76 
			 Dorset 28 7 2 1 5 1 2 20 29 20 
			 East Sussex 5 7 6 4 7 13 6 11 4 0 
			 Essex 52 2 5 97 45 15 6 42 43 3 
			 Gloucestershire 16 25 21 20 34 28 26 27 48 23 
			 Greater Manchester 43 218 256 42 53 33 30 78 77 61 
			 Hampshire 46 60 49 47 58 43 39 29 14 22 
			 Hereford and Worcester 24 43 7 11 19 29 23 31 14 22 
			 Hertfordshire 7 7 4 6 0 4 74 55 42 42 
			 Humberside 128 71 75 75 101 91 100 100 112 128 
			 Isle of Wight 39 36 39 43 32 36 39 26 0 27 
			 Isles of Scilly 0 6 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 Kent 32 76 65 44 58 46 29 22 36 25 
			 Lancashire 23 41 23 17 17 31 31 31 24 19 
			 Leicestershire 115 55 130 16 27 5 6 4 0 1 
			 Lincolnshire 14 12 3 2 10 14 9 3 7 21 
			 London 15 17 28 27 361 465 435 356 361 333 
			 Merseyside 39 49 56 137 3 0 0 0 0 3 
			 Norfolk 38 69 41 39 66 69 54 19 4 4 
			 North Yorkshire 57 57 42 36 31 42 60 39 46 34 
			 Northamptonshire 18 16 78 107 43 24 13 10 10 4 
			 Northumberland 5 8 7 8 3 10 6 2 0 4 
			 Nottinghamshire 8 18 21 11 19 18 8 9 10 8 
			 Oxfordshire 35 18 21 10 4 15 14 13 8 4 
			 Royal Berkshire 22 35 4 25 19 34 18 16 14 19 
			 Shropshire 15 16 10 5 6 6 4 3 6 2 
			 Somerset 7 10 11 4 1 10 14 3 10 13 
			 South Yorkshire 15 15 16 12 22 19 13 21 26 15 
			 Staffordshire 20 58 8 7 10 36 38 94 80 66 
			 Suffolk 31 39 31 34 12 46 70 46 31 23 
			 Surrey 78 83 18 16 9 11 14 3 3 5 
			 Tyne and Wear 172 59 46 39 53 41 39 36 37 38 
			 Warwickshire 4 3 14 11 5 13 14 12 13 25 
			 West Midlands 64 163 205 202 181 72 158 120 148 127 
			 West Sussex 229 234 125 144 126 92 83 94 62 39 
			 West Yorkshire 61 40 53 45 54 53 38 52 68 74 
			 Wiltshire 44 39 38 37 41 46 37 23 25 24 
			 Total 2,022 2,129 2,003 1,753 1,965 1,867 1,904 1,681 1,634 1,552 
			  Source:  Fire and Rescue Service returns to Department for Communities and Local Government.

Fire and Rescue Service

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many flooding incidents the Fire and Rescue Service attended in each fire authority area in each year since 1994.

Angela Smith: The information requested is not held centrally.

Fire and Rescue Service

Celia Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many incidents on or near water were attended by the fire service in each year since 1994; and how many people were rescued by the fire service on or near water in each year.

Angela Smith: Information held centrally covers primary fires attended by fire and rescue services. These figures are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Primary fires on or near water attended by fire and rescue services, England1994 to 2005 
			   Number of fires on or near water  Number of persons rescued 
			 1994 255 11 
			 1995 333 37 
			 1996 301 15 
			 1997 315 36 
			 1998 334 20 
			 1999 356 30 
			 2000 335 75 
			 2001 381 11 
			 2002 252 8 
			 2003 303 10 
			 2004 310 12 
			 2005(1) 281 21 
			 (1) Provisional  Notes: 1. Excludes fires during periods of industrial action in 2002 and 2003. 2. Figures for 1994-2004 are based on sampled data grossed to fire and rescue service totals.  Source: Fire and rescue service returns to the Department for Communities and Local Government

Fire Regulations

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to bring forward amendments to the Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989.

Angela Smith: It is our intention to replace the existing, highly prescriptive, Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989 with the risk based regime brought into force by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. However before doing so we will have to be fully satisfied that necessary protections will be maintained or enhanced by the change. Decisions about replacement of the 1989 regulations will therefore be taken in the light of  (a) evidence gathered during a period of parallel running of the regulations and the regime applied by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005; and  (b) discussion and consultation with stakeholders through a small working group.

Fire Regulations

Celia Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many special service incidents, including those not specified, were attended by the fire service in each year since 1994.

Angela Smith: The number of special service incidents attended by the fire and rescue service in England is as follows.
	
		
			  Special service incidents attended by the fire and rescue service in England 1994-95 to 2004-05 
			   Number 
			 1994-95 162,054 
			 1995-96 168,086 
			 1996-97 161,320 
			 1997-98 155,412 
			 1998-99 148,787 
			 1999-2000 155,356 
			 2000-01 174,481 
			 2001-02 165,103 
			 2002-03 170,298 
			 2003-04 158,383 
			 2004-05 158,419 
			  Note: 2002-03 figure includes estimates for incidents attended, but not recorded during strike periods.  Source: Fire and Rescue Service returns to Communities and Local Government

Framework Convention on National Minorities

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what progress her Department has made on the implementation of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities;
	(2)  when she expects to complete the UK's Framework Convention on National Minorities Compliance Report to the Council of Europe; and when she expects to be able to circulate it to UK based stakeholders;
	(3)  when the Government are required to produce their Framework Convention on National Minorities Compliance Report.

Phil Woolas: The Government's Second Report to the Council of Europe under the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities will set out the important progress the UK has made towards honouring this commitment. The draft report has been completed and we have circulated it for information and comment. I will ensure that the hon. Member also receives a copy. I intend to submit the final report to the Council of Europe in January.

Gershon Review

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what amount has been spent by her Department and its associated public bodies to achieve Gershon efficiency savings; whether these costs are included in the calculation of the headline efficiency savings; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Sir Peter Gershon's independent report into public sector efficiency did not require that efficiencies be recorded net of up front investment costs. Communities and Local Government has followed this advice.

Health Services: Thames Gateway

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what role primary care trusts (PCTs) played in the creation of the development strategy for the Thames Gateway; and which officials from PCTs attended meetings during the formulation of the strategy.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 4 December 2006
	The Thames Gateway Interim Plan, published last month, was the product of a collaboration between my Department and the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership (TGSP), on which local delivery vehicles (LDVs) sit. LDVs are charged with representing local views, including those of PCTs. In addition, the boards of the LDVs often include members of the LSP or local PCT, as in Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation and Bexley Regeneration Partnership, Invest Bexley.
	The TGIP also notes that Communities and Local Government funded a project undertaken for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham by the NHS Healthy Urban Development Unit to develop a way of modelling the impact of population growth on the need for services. PCT colleagues from the Barking and Dagenham PCT and the Director of Regeneration for the North-East London Strategic Health Authority, managed the project and met members of my Department on several occasions to discuss progress and how the findings of the project could best be used. The model that has been developed could be used by other authorities across the Gateway to help them plan healthcare and other services.

Home Condition Reports

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate she has made of the number of voluntary home condition reports that will be purchased in each year from June 2007;
	(2)  in which location the trials of energy performance certificates are taking place in November;
	(3)  what her Department's expected expenditure is on the November 2006 trials of energy performance certificates;
	(4)  how many areas where home information packs area trials are taking place have  (a) Conservative-controlled local authorities and  (b) Conservative Members of Parliament;
	(5)  if she will take steps to ensure that home information dry run is audited by an organisation independent of the Government and the home information pack industry;
	(6)  which organisations will audit the dry run of home information packs;
	(7)  whether  (a) energy condition reports outside a home condition report and  (b) voluntary home condition reports are being piloted in the home information pack dry run;
	(8)  how many  (a) reduced cost and  (b) free packs are being provided as part of the home information pack dry run;
	(9)  what  (a) incentives and  (b) payments are being provided (i) directly and (ii) indirectly to home inspectors participating in the home information pack dry run;
	(10)  whether the Association of home information pack providers will receive any payment for participating in the pack dry run.

Yvette Cooper: Area trials of home information packs are taking place in Bath, Cambridge, Southampton, Northampton, Newcastle and Huddersfield. Four of the six trial location areas include Conservative Members of Parliament. All trial locations contain at least one Conservative controlled local authority.
	Sellers can choose whether to have an energy performance certificate or a home condition report included in the free and reduced cost home information packs available on a voluntary basis in these trial areas.
	The Department has pledged up to £4 million to support these trials. No money is being paid directly to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers or to Home Inspectors. Payment for the free and reduced cost packs available in the trial areas will be made direct to the organisation compiling the pack. That organisation is responsible for paying its suppliers.
	The trials will include free, reduced cost and full cost packs in order to test different aspects of the HIPs process. No decision has been taken on how many free and reduced cost packs will be provided in the trial areas. This will be decided in light of the progress of trials, so as to enable us to obtain the fullest possible picture of the impact of the packs.
	We will monitor the voluntary use of home condition reports during the trials to identify ways in which their take-up can be maximised once home information packs become mandatory on 1 June 2007. We have not made an estimate of the number of home condition reports that will be commissioned after June.
	These trials will be independently verified. We are currently in the late stages of letting a contract to an independent research organisation and an announcement will be made shortly on the successful contractor.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been  (a) borrowed,  (b) held in reserve,  (c) accumulated in earned and unearned surpluses and  (d) spent on new house building by housing associations in each of the last 10 years; and whether such (i) borrowing and (ii) expenditure by housing associations is counted as in the (A) public and (B) private sector.

Yvette Cooper: The following table shows for registered social landlords (RSLs) for each year from 1998-99 to 2004-05 how much has been borrowed, held in reserve and surpluses after tax.
	RSLs are independent, not for profit organisations and surpluses they generate are reinvested in housing stock or provision of affordable housing.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Total debt  Surplus after tax  Reserves 
			 1998-99 13,640 332 7,967 
			 1999-2000 15,428 260 8,873 
			 2000-01 18,417 125 9,226 
			 2001-02 20,678 239 10,053 
			 2002-03 22,068 240 9,858 
			 2003-04 24,572 245 10,815 
			 2004-05 26,907 434 11,830 
			  Source:  Housing Corporation Global Accounts. 
		
	
	Prior to 1998-99 the information requested was not collected in the same format. Information on funds spent by RSLs on new house building is not held centrally; however, grant spent on new provision of affordable housing by RSLs for the same years is in the following table.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 1998-99 876.7 
			 1999-2000 916.3 
			 2000-01 1,054.3 
			 2001-02 1,127.1 
			 2002-03 1,360.1 
			 2003-04 1,790.9 
			 2004-05 1,548.4 
			 2005-06 1,596.4 
		
	
	Both borrowing and expenditure by RSLs is counted as private sector.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether her estimate of £12 billion for bringing all council housing up to decent homes standard is based on  (a) the Government's decent homes standard and  (b) the decent homes plus standard offered by housing associations.

Yvette Cooper: The £12 billion figure is an estimate of the funding the Government would need to give to local authorities and Arm's Length Management Organisations to enable a similar level of spending on home improvements and other works that registered social landlords spend on transferred housing stock.
	The figure represents an estimation of the extra cost matching resources of stock transfer housing associations.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which Government Department has assumed responsibility for the local authority housing debt incurred following cases of  (a) local authority housing transfer and  (b) creation of arm's length management organisations in each year since 1996.

Yvette Cooper: No Government Department assumes responsibility for local authority housing debt following the creation of an Arm's Length Management Organisation (ALMO). The local authority is the borrower and has responsibility for servicing its housing debt. The creation of an ALMO may affect the value, but not the ownership, of a local authority's housing debt. The local authority is the borrower.
	Upon transfer, a local authority may use the capital receipt generated by the transfer to extinguish its housing debt. In cases of overhanging debt, where the transfer is not sufficient to pay off the housing debt, a payment to the Public Works Loan Board to clear the debt will be made from an Annually Managed Expenditure Budget held by Communities and Local Government.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total of the housing revenue account  (a) has been in each year since 1990 and  (b) is estimated to be in each year until 2030, based on the assumptions of (i) future revenue and (ii) interest rates used in her Department's opting out pilot study of six local authorities.

Yvette Cooper: Local authorities hold their own housing revenue accounts and the Department does not collect details of the total of these accounts. Therefore we have no information as to the totals for previous years and we are unable to estimate what these might be in the years up to 2030. The six pilot authorities which are working with the Department to assess the circumstances in which it may be feasible to opt out of the housing revenue account subsidy system are still assessing the impact of opting-out upon their own housing revenue position.

Housing

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which were the 10 best performing arm's-length management organisations in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and what the surplus of each was over that period.

Yvette Cooper: Arms Length Management Orders' (ALMOs) performance is normally judged by the ratings they are awarded following inspection by the Housing Inspectorate. These inspections take place approximately every three years. There are currently 12 ALMOs to which the Inspectorate has awarded the top 3* (excellent) rating: Ashfield Homes, Bolton at Home, Brent Housing Partnership, Carrick Housing, CityWest Homes (Westminster), Derby Homes, Hounslow Homes, Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, Poole Housing Partnership, Sheffield Homes and Stockport Homes.
	We do not routinely collect information about surpluses held by ALMOs, which are determined primarily by the timing of payments between ALMOs and their local authorities.
	There are no ALMOs in Wales.

Housing

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many registered social landlord houses were sold to people or organisations other than tenants in each of the last five years.

Yvette Cooper: Registered social landlords (RSLs) sell a range of properties including those they have newly built for specialist management (eg to universities) or for outright sales as part of mixed communities. An extensive sample analysis of consents given in 2004-05 and 2005-06 indicates that, of the sales on the open market, 20.6 per cent. were homes which had previously been let as social rented homes. The equivalent proportion for 2005-06 (to January 2006) was 10.5 per cent. The bulk of the remaining disposals were of student or key worker accommodation to specialist management organisations or properties built by RSLs for outright sale. On the basis of this sample, disposals of social rented homes would represent 0.003 per cent. and 0.016 per cent. of total RSL stock for each year respectively.
	
		
			   Number of dwellings sold by RSLs on the open market  Sale to RSL (group and non-group) 
			 2001-02 1,285 1,259 
			 2002-03 1,133 3,370 
			 2003-04 1,877 2,854 
			 2004-05 3,157 4,929 
			 2005-06 3,081 3,355 
			  Notes: 1. Data exclude Abbeyfields and almshouses 2. Data on sales to local authorities are not collected. 3. Only RSLs completing the long form RSR provided information in 2005-06.  Source: Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR), Housing Corporation.

Housing

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of  (a) homeless applicants and  (b) households accepted as homeless in (i) each English region and (ii) each London local authority were from black and minority ethnic communities in 2005.

Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected by the Department. Authorities provide data on the number of applications for homelessness assistance (including those by ineligible households), and the number of households who are accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. These figures are broken down by the ethnicity of the applicant.
	Tables showing  (a) the proportion of Black and minority ethnic applicants who applied for homelessness assistance and  (b) the proportion that were accepted, in 2005, by region and London local authority, along with the proportion of White applicant households and those where ethnicity was not stated, have been placed in the Library of the House.
	In September 2005 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published research into "The causes of homelessness in ethnic minority communities" together with "Tackling Homelessness Amongst Ethnic Minority Households—A Development Guide". The Guide aims to assist local authorities and their partner agencies in the development of inclusive, evidence-based and cost-effective homelessness services for their local ethnic minority populations. To support uptake of the Development Guide the Office also launched a £3 million Ethnic Minorities Innovation Fund (EMIF).
	In June 2006 the Department announced details of successful bids for projects to be funded from EMIF, nearly a quarter of which is allocated to programmes in London working with a range client groups. The Fund is providing grants to projects across the country over the two years 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Housing

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to allocate funding to residents' associations for the purpose of forming property companies to purchase properties in order to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Yvette Cooper: The provisions in the Housing Act 2004 allow local authorities to use management orders to take over the management of private rented sector properties where antisocial behaviour occurs. We have no plans to provide for residents to purchase properties in these circumstances.

Housing

David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless families there were in  (a) Somerset and  (b) England in each month of each of the last five years.

Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected in respect of households, at local authority level and on a quarterly basis.
	The number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty by the local authority, for both England and Somerset since 2001 is in the following table. Also shown is the number of households accepted because they were in priority need through containing dependent children and/or a pregnant woman.
	
		
			  Households accepted( 1)  as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need 
			   Somerset( 2)  England 
			   Total number of households accepted  of which priority need: dependent children or pregnant woman  Total number of households accepted  of which priority need: dependent children or pregnant woman 
			  2001 
			 Q1 291 193 30,450 20,190 
			 Q2 297 189 28,950 19,840 
			 Q3 299 198 30,590 20,540 
			 Q4 281 180 27,840 18,220 
			  2002 
			 Q1 (3)— (3)— 29,280 18,960 
			 Q2 297 179 30,460 20,130 
			 Q3 (3)— (3)— 33,310 21,090 
			 Q4 328 204 30,790 18,720 
			  2003 
			 Q1 293 170 33,980 20,480 
			 Q2 286 157 34,090 21,190 
			 Q3 228 136 35,770 22,020 
			 Q4 226 140 31,750 19,100 
			  2004 
			 Q1 293 164 33,820 21,020 
			 Q2 296 184 32,900 20,480 
			 Q3 265 152 32,150 20,110 
			 Q4 218 108 28,890 17,560 
			  2005 
			 Q1 294 171 26,920 17,020 
			 Q2 (3)— (3)— 27,310 17,560 
			 Q3 184 117 24,800 16,130 
			 Q4 120 71 21,140 13,750 
			  2006 
			 Q1 108 65 20,730 13,810 
			 Q2 75 46 19,430 12,950 
			 Q3 104 78 19,390 12,810 
			 (1) Households eligible under homelessness legislation, found to be unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty.  (2) Somerset includes the following LAs: Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane and West Somerset.  (3) Data not reported during quarter.   Source: DCLG P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly). 
		
	
	The duty owed to a person accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
	The second table shows the total number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of each quarter since 2001, and, since 2002, those that include dependent children or a pregnant woman, for both England and Somerset. In January 2005 the Government announced in "Homes for All" its commitment to halve the number of all households in temporary accommodation by 2010.
	
		
			  Households in temporary accommodation( 1)  arranged by local authorities 
			   Somerset( 2)  England 
			   Total number of households in TA (end quarter snapshot)  of which families with dependent children and/or pregnant woman  Total number of households in TA (end quarter snapshot)  of which families with dependent children and/or pregnant woman 
			  2001 
			 Q1 354 — 75,200 — 
			 Q2 349 — 75,920 — 
			 Q3 411 — 77,800 — 
			 Q4 413 — 77,510 — 
			  2002 
			 Q1 (3)— (3)— 80,200 54,660 
			 Q2 404 (3)— 81,660 58,870 
			 Q3 (3)— (3)— 85,010 61,740 
			 Q4 375 (3)— 85,140 60,310 
			  2003 
			 Q1 573 (3)— 89,040 61,510 
			 Q2 607 (3)— 91,870 65,040 
			 Q3 387 228 94,440 67,260 
			 Q4 324 203 94,610 67,540 
			  2004 
			 Q1 320 198 97,680 70,580 
			 Q2 319 207 99,530 71,640 
			 Q3 356 220 101,300 72,510 
			 Q4 365 223 101,030 72,800 
			  2005 
			 Q1 499 356 101,070 72,670 
			 Q2 (3)— (3)— 100,970 72,810 
			 Q3 521 351 101,020 74,180 
			 Q4 453 316 98,730 72,920 
			  2006 
			 Q1 422 303 96,370 71,560 
			 Q2 377 271 93,910 69,790 
			 Q3 378 262 93,090 69,500 
			 (1) Households in accommodation arranged by local authorities pending enquiries or awaiting allocation of a settled home following acceptance of a main duty.  (2) Somerset includes the following LAs: Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane and West Somerset.  (3) Data not reported during quarter.   Source:  DCLG P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly). 
		
	
	Information is also collected by the Department on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night. These are recorded on a calendar year basis, and figures for 2001 up to the latest available figures, for 2006, are presented by local authority on the Communities website, at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/705//NationalRoughSleepingEstimate2006_idl502705.xls

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she expects the pilot scheme for local authorities to opt out of the national housing revenue account to be self financing.

Yvette Cooper: The impact on the public finances of permitting individual local authorities to operate outside the housing revenue account subsidy system is one of the issues that the Government are considering as part of the current pilot scheme.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what Government expenditure was on  (a) council housing,  (b) registered social landlords  (c) arms length management organisations and  (d) home ownership schemes in each year since 1996.

Yvette Cooper: The information requested in provided in the table. The figures for 2005-06 have not been audited. Government expenditure on council housing will also include money given to ALMOs under the Decent Homes programme. Figures for Housing Corporation funding via registered social landlords (RSLs)is for new homes and excludes works to RSL housing stock. The Housing Corporation figures for low cost home ownership include funding for Affordable Housing Programme, Local Authority Social Housing Grant and Starter Home Initiative. The English Partnership figures include acquisition costs.
	
		
			   1996-97  1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01 
			 Supported Capital Expenditure 2,264,684,642 2,195,992,704 2,175,181,668 2,032,348,393 1,944,620,377 
			 Other HRA Subsidy Allowances 3,468,580,373 3,417,333,253 3,259,255,389 3,175,271,907 3,096,738,840 
			 ALMO allowances 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Gross HRA Subsidy 5,733,265,015 5,613,325,957 5,434,437,057 5,207,620,300 5,041,359,217 
			 ALMO capital allowances 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total capital and revenue expenditure on council housing 5,733,265,015 5,613,325,957 5,434,437,057 5,207,620,300 5,041,359,217 
			 Gap Funded Transfer Payments 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Housing Corporation funding to RSLs to build or acquire new social housing 706,600,000 781,700,000 751,600,000 822,700,000 936,900,000 
			 Registered Social Landlords total 706,600,000 781,700,000 751,600,000 822,700,000 936,900,000 
			 Housing Corporation funding to RSLs for low cost home ownership schemes 216,000,000 172,500,000 125,100,000 93,700,000 117,400,000 
			 English Partnerships funding for First Time Buyers and London Wide Initiatives 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total funding to low cost home ownership schemes 216,000,000 172,500,000 125,100,000 93,700,000 117,400,000 
		
	
	
		
			   2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Supported Capital Expenditure 1,831,898,885 1,680,483,994 1,524,742,563 1,204,462,129 1,175,993,702 
			 Other HRA Subsidy Allowances 4,578,382,595 4,531,725,226 4,467,285,633 4,580,123,061 4,653,543,837 
			 ALMO allowances 0 10,495,034 50,734,594 87,190,425 121,525,840 
			 Gross HRA Subsidy 6,410.781.480 6.222.704,254 6,042,762,790 5,871,775,615 5,951.063,379 
			 ALMO capital allowances 0 55,924,286 321,126,161 576,803,882 854,163,476 
			 Total capital and revenue expenditure on council housing 6,410,781,480 6,278,628,540 6,363,888,951 6,448,579,497 6,805,226,855 
			 Gap Funded Transfer Payments 0 0 0 7,650,000 3,882,707 
			 Housing Corporation funding to RSLs to build or acquire new social housing 1,008,700,000 1,198,200,000 1,444,600,000 1,085,200,000 1,015,000,000 
			 Registered Social Landlords total 1,008,700,000 1,198,200,000 1,444,600,000 1,092,850,000 1,018,882,707 
			 Housing Corporation funding to RSLs for low cost home ownership schemes 120,570,000 228,850,000 518,580,000 470,510,000 581,400,000 
			 English Partnerships funding for First Time Buyers and London Wide Initiatives 0 0 57,000,000 108,000,000 0 
			 Total funding to low cost home ownership schemes 120,570,000 228,850,000 575,580,000 578,510,000 581,400,000

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities do not have a strategy for meeting the Decent Homes target.

Yvette Cooper: Of the 196 local authorities who needed to complete an options appraisal to put a decent homes delivery plan in place all bar Camden have done so. Since completing their options appraisals a small number of authorities have revisited their strategies for delivering decent homes and we are aware that some are still doing some further work.

Infrastructure

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will visit Wellingborough to discuss the provision of infrastructure for the development that is taking place in the area.

Yvette Cooper: Wellingborough plays an important part in the growth proposals for North Northamptonshire. There have already been a number of ministerial visits to North Northamptonshire in the past and I hope there will be opportunities for further ministerial visits from my Department next year. Communities and Local Government Ministers are more than happy to discuss housing development and infrastructure provision in Wellingborough when we next visit North Northamptonshire.

Local Government: Staff

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what factors she took into account when deciding to implement a 2.7 per cent. increase in the East Devon District C Revenue support grant.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 14 December 2006
	Formula grant is based on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the authority, together with the number of band-D equivalent properties in an authority's area. We then ensure that every local authority receives at least a minimum percentage increase (the 'floor') year-on-year on a like-for-like basis i.e. after adjusting for changes in funding and function.
	A full description of the calculation can be found in the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2007-08 which was placed in the Library of the House on 28 November 2006.
	When deciding the level of the floor, we took account of the average increase in formula grant for the group, together with the rate of inflation for the period covered by the report as measured by the GDP deflator.
	East Devon benefit from the floor in 2007-08 by £100,950.

Local Government Finance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities are in receipt of financial support for  (a) arm's length management organisations,  (b) gap funding and (c) private finance initiative housing schemes; how much support each received in each year since 1996; and how many homes each owned in each year.

Yvette Cooper: Local authorities with ALMOs that have achieved a rating of two stars or better from the Audit Commission receive funding in the form of supported borrowing, the agreed total of which is taken into account in the calculation of the Housing Revenue Account subsidy. Table 1 gives the annual supported borrowing for each LA with respect of its ALMO. The number of homes is those recorded at the point management responsibility transferred to the ALMO.
	The PFI subsidy payments are used by the LAs along with other resources to meet the Unitary Charge that is charged annually by the PFI contractor. PFI subsidy payments are calculated from the level of PFI credits that have been awarded for the scheme. The annual subsidy payments are set out in table 2 . The number of homes for the Housing Revenue Account schemes is the reduction in the number of non-decent homes once the construction and refurbishment phase of the contract is complete. The number of homes for the General Fund schemes is the number of additional social rented homes that will be constructed under the contract.
	Local authorities do not receive any payments for gap funded transfers. Payments are made to RSLs.
	
		
			  Table 1: LA level of annual supported borrowing for ALMOs 
			  Authority  Number of homes  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			  Round 1 ALMOs  
			 Ashfield 8,288 6,000,000 20,000,000 20,000,000 9,320,000 
			 Derby 15,424 8,435,000 28,700,000 41,115,000 18,926,000 
			 Hounslow 14,801 10,000,000 25,000,000 35,000,000 29,650,000 
			 Kirklees 28,269 351,274 40,000,000 50,000,000 50,000,000 
			 Rochdale 16,831 6,080,000 28,120,000 48,000,000 24,100,000 
			 Stockton 14,060 5,601,012 38,900,000 18,498,988 0 
			 Westminster 14,000 1,457,000 18,843,000 27,593,000 26,107,000 
			 Wigan 26,446 18,000,000 40,300,000 39,500,000 39,500,000 
			   
			  Round 2 ALMOs  
			 Barnsley 23,648 — 7,000,000 41,200,000 66,020,283 
			 Blyth Valley 7,756 — 3,240,000 12,938,105 15,250,895 
			 Bolton 21,500 — 20,000,000 33,000,000 39,762,000 
			 Brent 9,303 — 11,250,000 25,400,000 31,347,000 
			 Carrick 3,872 — 2,010,000 5,250,000 7,737,003 
			 Cheltenham 5,027 — 1,371,000 8,629,000 12,500,000 
			 Colchester 7,060 — — 13,500,000 11,105,000 
			 Hillingdon 13,904 — 2,400,000 14,200,000 15,659,000 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 7,220 — 6,900,000 14,712,000 12,032,000 
			 Leeds—East 12,661 — — 6,496,800 22,454,323 
			 Leeds—North East 6,851 — 4,100,000 6,419,000 10,944,000 
			 Leeds—North West 12,178 — — 8,117,000 16,000,000 
			 Leeds—South East 8,727 — — 8,359,000 13,570,000 
			 Leeds—South 16,265 — — 12,927,000 29,079,000 
			 Leeds—West 13,206 — 4,747,000 13,511,000 22,462,800 
			 Oldham 18,550 — 18,245,161 17,754,839 25,200,000 
			   
			  Round 3  
			 Barnet 11,452 — — 4,005,000 15,094,200 
			 Gateshead 24,663 — — 0 13,000,000 
			 High Peak 4,389 — — 0 4,700,000 
			 Islington 30,231 — — 2,870,000 22,030,000 
			 Newcastle 32,092 — — 16,000,000 68,000,000 
			 Poole 4,726 — — 1,098,150 7,702,972 
			 Sheffield 51,142 — — 25,200,000 71,161,000 
			 Solihull 11,541 — — 1,200,000 19,400,000 
			 South Lakeland 3,421 — — 0 3,075,000 
			 Warrington 9,935 — — 4,310,000 13,968,000 
			   
			  Round 4 ALMOs  
			 Bury 8,936 — — — 2,120,000 
			 Ealing 14,679 — — — 20,448,000 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 13,778 — — — 21,938,000 
			 Newark and Sherwood 5,334 — — — 6,500,000 
			 Rotherham 25,128 — — — 7,500,000 
			 Sandwell 35,079 — — — 8,800,000 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Housing PFI subsidy payments 
			  £ 
			  Housing revenue account payments  Number of homes  PFI credits  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 LB Camden (Chalcots)(1) 601 65,000,000 — — — — — — — 
			 LB Islington (Street Properties 1) 1,900 74,690,000 — — — — 6,140,376 6,140,376 6,140,376 
			 LB Islington (Street Properties 2)(1) 2,954 165,000,000 — — — — — — — 
			 Leeds City Council (Swarcliffe) 1,933 78,800,000 — — — — — 501,122 6,096,988 
			 Manchester CC (A6 Plymouth Gr) 1,091 36,640,000 — — — — 3,012,098 3,012,098 3,012,098 
			 Manchester CC (Heating)  2,817,312 — 301,853 301,853 301,853 301,853 301,853 301,853 
			 LB Newham (Canning Town) 1,020 31,890,000 — — — — — — 1,965,720 
			 Oldham MBC (Sheltered)(1) 1,639 132,000,000 — — — — — — — 
			 Reading BC (N Whitely) 1,370 49,600,000 — — — — — 3,997,107 3,997,107 
			 Sandwell 1,041 71,000,000 — — — — — — 469,595 
			   
			  General fund payments  
			 Derby City 150 2,800,000 — — 236,000 236,000 236,000 236,000 236,000 
			 LB Hammersmith and Fulham 32 4,700,000 — — — — — — 378,756 
			 North East Derbyshire DC 51 360,000 33,000 33,000 33,000 33,000 33,000 33,000 33,000 
			 Selby DC 250 6,700,000 — — — — — — 539,929 
			 Warrington 143 4,300,000 — — — — — — 69,513 
			 (1) Schemes signed in 2006-07. First payments will be for 2006-07 but have not yet been agreed with authorities.

Local Government Finance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total local authority council housing debt was in each year since 1990; what interest was paid on the debt; and what allowance was made for debt service charges in the housing revenue account subsidy system.

Phil Woolas: Total actual local authority housing debt since 1990 and the allowance we make for debt service charges in the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system is as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			  England  Council house debt  HRA subsidy for debt charges 
			 1990-91 20,381 2,543 
			 1991-92 20,060 2,418 
			 1992-93 20,039 2,366 
			 1993-94 20,387 2,312 
			 1994-95 20,818 2,316 
			 1995-96 20,648 2,261 
			 1996-97 20,212 2,227 
			 1997-98 19,708 2,205 
			 1998-99 19,030 2,137 
			 1999-2000 18,487 2,012 
			 2000-01 17,607 1,924 
			 2001-02 17,592 1,811 
			 2002-03 16,413 1,669 
			 2003-04 14,377 1,532 
			 2004-05 12,704 1,206 
		
	
	The actual figures on housing debt are not the same as the notional debt figures which we used to calculate the debt service charges.
	Communities and Local Government does not have data on the actual interest local authorities paid on their housing debt.
	2004-05 is the latest year for which audited data is available.

Muslim Groups

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the  (a) remit and  (b) membership is of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB); how many times the MINAB has met; and what recommendations have been made by the MINAB;
	(2)  whether her Department's plan of fit for purpose leadership and management development programme for Imams and other faith community leaders has been completed; when the plan is expected to be published; and what plans she has to implement the plan across England;
	(3)  what progress has been made on the development of Muslim beacon centres; and what funding her Department has allocated to these centres;
	(4)  what assistance her Department provided for the drawing up of the Mosques Good Practice Guide; and where the guide has been distributed.

Phil Woolas: The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) has been established as an independent national body. It launched on 27 June 2006 following a national consultation with Muslim communities led by Lord Ahmed.
	A Mosques Good Practice Guide was published at the same time. The guide was published by MINAB in conjunction with the university of Birmingham. The Department for Communities and Local Government played no role in the development of this guide. Distribution of the guide is overseen by MINAB to mosques across Muslim communities.
	I understand that MINAB is being led by a steering group comprising of five Muslim organisations; Al-Khoei Foundation, British Muslim Forum, Muslim Council of Britain, Muslim Association of Britain and the World Federation of KSIMC. The members of the steering group have met informally on a number of occasions since the creation of MINAB. The steering group are currently developing proposals on the five main areas that MINAB will focus on, these are as follows:
	the accreditation of Imams;
	the development of leadership skills for imams and mosque officials;
	progress in the inclusion of young people and women;
	improvement in the governance of mosques;
	supporting mosques to contribute to community cohesion and to combating extremism (this will include considering the idea of establishing beacon centres).
	The Department has no plan for a 'fit for purpose leadership and management development programme for Imams and other faith community leaders'. As indicated, MINAB will be developing a programme of leadership skills training for Imams and mosque officials.
	To maintain its independent nature, MINAB has not requested any funding from Government.

Ordnance Survey

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what action she proposes to take in relation to Ordnance Survey in response to the recommendations made in the recent Office of Fair Trading's market study of public sector information; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: As one of the major public sector information holders covered by the study, Ordnance Survey is giving the report very careful consideration.
	Ordnance Survey officials will be working with officials in my department and in other Departments and organisations mentioned in the report to assist the Department of Trade and Industry in its coordination of the official Government response to the report.

Roads

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether there will be a public inquiry on the proposed Heysham M6 link road.

Yvette Cooper: Lancashire county council referred the planning application for the proposed Heysham M6 Link Road to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 3 November 2006 under the terms of a Direction (Article 14 of the Town and Country Planning Act (General Development Procedure Order 1995)) issued on 8 March 2006. The application, along with all the representations received, is currently under consideration with a view as to whether or not it should be called in for determination by the Secretary of State. If the application is called-in it will necessitate a public inquiry.

Smoke Alarms

Celia Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the percentage of battery operated smoke alarms which did not operate in dwelling fires in each year since 1994.

Angela Smith: The available information covers primary fires in dwellings attended by fire and rescue services where a battery smoke alarm was fitted but failed to activate.
	
		
			  Primary fires in dwellings attended by fire and rescue services, England 1994-2005 
			  Percentage 
			Of which due to 
			   Battery operated smoke alarms: Percentage not operated  Flat/missing battery  Fire products did not reach detector  Other reasons 
			 1994 27 16 3 8 
			 1995 30 19 4 7 
			 1996 36 22 6 8 
			 1997 37 24 6 8 
			 1998 43 26 8 8 
			 1999 42 27 7 8 
			 2000 44 29 8 6 
			 2001 44 27 10 7 
			 2002 42 25 10 6 
			 2003 39 24 10 5 
			 2004 39 22 11 6 
			 2005(1) 38 19 12 6 
			 (1) Provisional  Notes:  Excludes fires during periods of industrial action in 2002 and 2003. Figures for 1994-2004 are based on sampled data grossed to fire and rescue service totals.  Source:  Fire and Rescue Service returns to the Department for Communities and Local Government

Smoke Alarms

Celia Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were killed in dwelling fires in each fire authority in each year since 1994.

Angela Smith: The number of people killed in accidental and deliberate dwelling fires attended by fire and rescue services in England is set out as follows:
	
		
			  Deaths in dwelling fires attended by fire and rescue services, England 1994-2005 
			   1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999 
			 England 376 428 428 432 383 334 
			 Avon 7 2 3 4 4 8 
			 Bedfordshire 4 4 6 3 4 1 
			 Berkshire 4 3 12 5 7 3 
			 Buckinghamshire 3 4 4 7 2 4 
			 Cambridgeshire 6 3 9 4 2 3 
			 Cheshire 5 6 8 11 7 8 
			 Cleveland 1 7 5 10 2 3 
			 Cornwall 2 6 1 6 3 3 
			 Cumbria 5 10 3 4 5 3 
			 Derbyshire 10 6 5 7 8 7 
			 Devon 5 5 6 4 6 4 
			 Dorset 0 10 8 5 1 8 
			 Durham 9 6 3 9 4 9 
			 East Sussex 4 6 7 7 8 5 
			 Essex 6 11 13 14 6 6 
			 Gloucestershire 6 7 5 4 2 1 
			 Hampshire 7 14 15 5 8 9 
			 Hereford and Worcester 6 2 1 6 4 3 
			 Hertfordshire 5 6 10 10 7 4 
			 Humberside 9 18 8 7 10 5 
			 Isle of Wight 1 2 1 1 1 0 
			 Kent 11 12 12 7 5 5 
			 Lancashire 12 21 19 22 15 15 
			 Leicestershire 5 9 10 4 9 3 
			 Lincolnshire 6 6 4 2 7 3 
			 Norfolk 1 2 2 5 1 5 
			 North Yorkshire 8 5 7 7 8 4 
			 Northamptonshire 4 4 3 8 8 5 
			 Northumberland 4 3 0 3 1 2 
			 Nottinghamshire 5 4 11 16 10 8 
			 Oxfordshire 3 4 10 4 8 5 
			 Shropshire 7 1 1 3 0 1 
			 Somerset 2 3 5 4 1 0 
			 Staffordshire 4 8 7 10 8 7 
			 Suffolk 2 9 0 6 6 1 
			 Surrey 6 2 4 5 6 3 
			 Warwickshire 1 1 1 2 4 2 
			 West Sussex 3 1 2 5 4 7 
			 Wiltshire 8 3 7 4 0 1 
			 Greater Manchester 36 27 24 29 24 29 
			 Merseyside 17 15 19 10 21 8 
			 South Yorkshire 4 8 11 6 12 11 
			 Tyne and Wear 11 6 12 5 16 5 
			 West Midlands 21 26 19 16 19 22 
			 West Yorkshire 24 29 35 24 23 20 
			 Greater London 66 81 70 92 66 65 
		
	
	
		
			   2000  2001  2002  2003  2004 ( 1 ) 2005 
			 England 351 358 327 349 268 262 
			 Avon 5 6 6 6 3 7 
			 Bedfordshire 5 3 4 5 2 4 
			 Berkshire 7 4 1 6 2 1 
			 Buckinghamshire 6 3 6 4 1 2 
			 Cambridgeshire 3 2 1 2 3 2 
			 Cheshire 6 7 5 4 1 7 
			 Cleveland 1 5 2 8 2 4 
			 Cornwall 4 4 4 3 3 3 
			 Cumbria 3 5 3 3 3 2 
			 Derbyshire 10 5 10 11 6 3 
			 Devon 7 3 4 6 1 2 
			 Dorset 2 8 6 1 3 1 
			 Durham 7 5 3 8 3 4 
			 East Sussex 3 3 4 6 4 1 
			 Essex 10 6 7 8 6 10 
			 Gloucestershire 2 1 2 5 1 1 
			 Hampshire 8 7 5 5 7 6 
			 Hereford and Worcester 2 2 4 4 2 2 
			 Hertfordshire 6 5 6 0 0 4 
			 Humberside 7 7 7 7 7 4 
			 Isle of Wight 0 2 0 0 0 1 
			 Kent 9 11 9 9 5 12 
			 Lancashire 17 14 26 13 15 8 
			 Leicestershire 1 5 7 4 9 3 
			 Lincolnshire 4 4 6 4 4 2 
			 Norfolk 9 6 2 4 3 4 
			 North Yorkshire 2 4 5 5 2 2 
			 Northamptonshire 3 3 3 3 3 2 
			 Northumberland 1 6 0 3 0 1 
			 Nottinghamshire 3 6 6 4 5 5 
			 Oxfordshire 1 3 6 4 2 2 
			 Shropshire 8 2 4 1 1 2 
			 Somerset 1 5 5 4 2 2 
			 Staffordshire 8 7 5 3 6 3 
			 Suffolk 3 5 4 4 2 3 
			 Surrey 7 2 4 7 2 4 
			 Warwickshire 5 6 0 1 2 3 
			 West Sussex 3 2 4 4 12 1 
			 Wiltshire 0 4 6 2 1 1 
			 Greater Manchester 23 27 17 29 17 31 
			 Merseyside 22 15 11 10 13 12 
			 South Yorkshire 12 18 5 13 12 11 
			 Tyne and Wear 5 7 5 7 4 6 
			 West Midlands 30 23 20 18 17 19 
			 West Yorkshire 22 12 21 24 23 14 
			 Greater London 48 68 56 67 46 38 
			 (1) Provisional  Notes:  Includes deaths reported from other sources during periods of industrial action in 2002 and 2003.  Source:  Fire and rescue service returns to the Department for Communities and Local Government

Tenant Management Organisations

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the tenant management organisations (TMOs) in operation, broken down by local authority; and how many TMOs there were in each local authority in each of the last three years.

Yvette Cooper: The National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations (NFTMO) keeps a database of TMOs. It is likely that some TMOs will exist, and some will have folded, without the knowledge of the NFTMO. But this database is the best information we have. It has provided the following list of TMOs, broken down by local authority area:
	
		
			  Local authority area  Number 
			 Birmingham City Council 8 
			 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 1 
			 Burnley Borough Council 1 
			 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council 1 
			 Carlisle City Council 1 
			 Cheltenham Borough Council 1 
			 Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council 1 
			 Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council 1 
			 Gloucester City Council 1 
			 Great Yarmouth Borough Council 1 
			 Hartlepool Borough Council 3 
			 Hyndburn Borough Council 1 
			 Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council 1 
			 London Borough of Brent 2 
			 London Borough of Camden 7 
			 London Borough of Ealing 2 
			 London Borough of Greenwich 1 
			 London Borough of Hackney 9 
			 London Borough of Havering 1 
			 London Borough of Hillingdon 1 
			 London Borough of Islington 34 
			 London Borough of Lambeth 16 
			 London Borough of Lewisham 3 
			 London Borough of Merton 1 
			 London Borough of Newham 2 
			 London Borough of Redbridge 1 
			 London Borough of Southwark 16 
			 London Borough of Tower Hamlets 3 
			 London Borough of Waltham Forest 1 
			 London Borough of Wandsworth 12 
			 Leeds City Council 1 
			 Leicester City Council 1 
			 Liverpool City Council 4 
			 Manchester City Council 2 
			 Middlesbrough Borough Council 1 
			 Nottingham City Council 1 
			 Norwich City Council 1 
			 Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council 1 
			 Plymouth City Council 2 
			 Preston City Council 1 
			 Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council 1 
			 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council 3 
			 Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 3 
			 Rossendale Borough Council 3 
			 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council 2 
			 Salford City Council 3 
			 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council 2 
			 Sheffield City Council 3 
			 Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council 1 
			 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council 3 
			 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council 9 
			 West Lancashire District Council 4 
			 Westminster City Council 15 
			 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council 1 
			 Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council 5 
		
	
	The list includes TMOs in local authority-owned and housing association-owned
	properties.
	The following number of TMOs within local authority-owned stock has gone live within each of the last three years:
	
		
			  Local authority area  Number 
			  2006-07  
			 London Borough of Southwark 1 
			 Westminster City Council 1 
			 Wolverhampton City Council 1 
			  2005-06  
			 Birmingham City Council 2 
			 London Borough of Hackney 2 
			 London Borough of Lewisham 1 
			 London Borough of Wandsworth 1 
			 Leeds City Council (1)1 
			 Manchester City Council 1 
			  2004-05  
			 Liverpool City Council 1 
			 London Borough of Havering 1 
			 London Borough of Islington 1 
			 London Borough of Newham 1 
			 West Lancashire District Council 1 
			 (1) Extending an existing TMO 
		
	
	Currently there are 20 TMOs in development.

Child Sex Offenders

Alan Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average  (a) sentence and  (b) time served by convicted child sex offenders in England and Wales was in each of the last 10 years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested on the average custodial sentence length imposed on persons sentenced for sexual offences against children in England and Wales, is shown in the table. Also shown are the total number of persons receiving immediate custodial sentences for these offences and those who received life or indeterminate sentences. All sexual offences where it is possible to determine from the wording of the statute that the victim was a child have been included and cover offences of buggery, indecent assault, sexual assault, unlawful sexual intercourse, indecency, rape, sexual activity, incest, familial sexual offences, procuration, exploitation of prostitution, abduction, abuse of children through prostitution and pornography, abuse of trust and gross indecency.
	The time served by prisoners convicted of sexual offences against children is not available because the codes contained on the Prison IT system do not have sufficient detail to enable identification of all such offences.
	
		
			  Persons sentenced to immediate custody and average custodial sentence length( 1)  for sexual offences against children, England and Wales, 1996 to 2005 
			   Persons sentenced to immediate custody  Of which, sentenced to life or indeterminate sentence  Average custodial sentence length( 1)  (months) 
			 1996 1,723 8 33.9 
			 1997 1,762 13 34.1 
			 1998 1,768 17 35.6 
			 1999 1,791 32 35.5 
			 2000 1,699 21 34.5 
			 2001 1,666 26 34.4 
			 2002 1,779 17 36.8 
			 2003 2,210 19 31.8 
			 2004 2,328 24 33.8 
			 2005 2,105 48 34.3 
			 (1) Excluding life and indeterminate sentences.  Note: Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile these figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown.  Source: RDS-NOMS, Home Office

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letter dated 23 October 2006 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms Fatima Begum.

John Reid: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 5 December.

Domestic Disturbance Calls

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average response time was for the police in Tamworth constituency in relation to domestic disturbance calls in each of the past two years.

Tony McNulty: The Home Office does not routinely collect this data. However, Staffordshire Police have provided average response times for the police in Tamworth in relation to domestic disturbance calls for each of the past two years: 17.91 minutes in 2004-05; and 18.44 minutes in 2005-06. This data is for all incidents (not just 999 calls), and includes those which have been re-classified, such as responses to neighbours reporting incidents.

Drugs

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children of school age have been cautioned for drug-related offences in each year since 2002.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 7 December 2006
	Available information relates to the number of persons aged 18 cautioned and persons aged under 18 receiving reprimands or warnings for principal drug offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
	The decrease in 2004 coincides with the introduction of formal warnings for cannabis possession in January 2004 that can be applied to those aged 18 and over.
	
		
			  Persons aged under 19 cautioned( 1)  for principal drug offences, England and Wales, 2002 to 2004 
			   Number 
			 2002 14,314 
			 2003 14,550 
			 2004(2) 11,328 
			 (1) Includes warnings and reprimands for under 18s. (2) Excludes police formal ("street") warnings for cannabis possession, introduced in January 2004, which are not counted as police cautions.

Drugs

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders are on drugs rehabilitation courses in prisons; and what estimate he has made of the number of drug users in prison.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The following table shows the numbers engaging in drug treatment in prisons in the last financial year.
	Information on the number of drug users in prison is not collated centrally.
	Prisons rely on epidemiological surveys to determine levels of substance dependence. Studies show that around 55 per cent. of those received into custody report a serious drug problem—with 80 per cent. reporting some misuse; in certain prisons, up to 80 per cent. test positive for opiates on reception. Based on an annual throughput of 130,000 offenders, this equates to 70,000 drug-misusers passing through custody in the course of a year; with 39,000 present at any one time.
	
		
			   Clinical Management( 1)  CARATs( 2)  Initial assessments  Programme entrants 
			 2005-06 53,323 74,588 10,743 
			 (1) Includes maintenance, detoxification and alcohol detoxification (2) Counselling, assessment, referral, advice and throughcare service (3) Includes 8,709 by YPSMS (Young Persons Substance Misuse Service)—the substance misuse service for under 18s.

Emergency Refuge Accommodation

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to increase the provision of emergency refuge accommodation; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
	Through a capital investment of over £30 million since 2003-04 we have increased the provision of emergency accommodation for people fleeing domestic violence by 511 bed spaces nationally. Decisions around the provision of emergency refuge accommodation rest with each local authority and this should be based on local need.
	We have also committed £90 million over three years to 2008 to improve the quality of emergency hostel accommodation. This investment is more focussed on improving the quality and effectiveness of the accommodation than about increasing the number of bed spaces.
	We and the LGA will shortly publish joint guidance on 'Options for Setting Up a Sanctuary Scheme' which shows local authorities how to set up effective sanctuaries for victims of domestic violence. The scheme allows the victim (and their children) to remain in their own accommodation, where it is their choice and where it is safe for them to do so.

Heroin Addicts

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued to prison officers in the last 12 months on the relative benefits of  (a) methadone prescription and  (b) detoxification for heroin addicts.

John Reid: In November 2006, the Department of Health published "Clinical Management of Drug Dependence in the Adult Prison Setting". This document has been issued to heads of prison healthcare in national health service primary care trusts.
	A copy of this document is available in the House Library.

Intensive Fostering

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Intensive Fostering as an alternative to a custodial sentence for a young person.

Gerry Sutcliffe: No assessment of the effectiveness of intensive fostering as an alternative to custody has yet been made. The piloting of Intensive Fostering commenced in April 2005 and is currently running in three areas until March 2008. York university will be evaluating the pilots. An initial interim evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot is due in mid 2007 and a full evaluation is due in 2008.

London Bombings

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received the full report from the police on the discrepancy of the time of departure of the Luton train on which those responsible for 7th July bombings travelled; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: A report has been received from the police about the time of departure of the Luton train on which those responsible for the 7 July bombings travelled. The report confirms (as my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced in Parliament on 11 July 2006) that an error was made in the timing and that the train departed Luton station at 07.25 and not 07.40 as given in the Official Account of the bombings. This discrepancy was the result of human error and we will ensure that the Official Account is amended accordingly.

National Infrastructure Security

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the critical national infrastructure is monitored on a 24-hour basis by National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre staff.

Tony McNulty: During normal hours, the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) is fully staffed. NISCC monitors activity and responds to calls around the clock. It has the capability to increase its staffing as the need arises.
	At all other times, due to the cross border nature of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) protection, NISCC participates in the international watch and warn service.

National Infrastructure Security

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the  (a) hours of operation and  (b) levels of staffing per shift are of the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre computer specialists helpdesk.

Tony McNulty: During normal hours, the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) is fully staffed. NISCC monitors activity and responds to calls around the clock. It has the capability to increase its staffing as the need arises.
	At all other times, due to the cross border nature of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) protection, NISCC participates in the international watch and warn service.

National Infrastructure Security

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the staff of the National Infrastructure Co-ordination Centre are employed full-time.

Tony McNulty: The National Infrastructure Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) employs approximately 85 people, the majority of which are full-time staff.

Penalty Notices

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many penalty notices for disorder in respect of  (a) behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to others,  (b) drunk and disorderly behaviour in a public place,  (c) destroying or damaging property up to the value of £500,  (d) retail theft under £200,  (e) sale of alcohol to a person under 18 years of age,  (f) selling alcohol to a drunken person,  (g) using threatening words or behaviour and  (h) breach of a fireworks curfew were (i) issued and (ii) unpaid in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 12 December 2006
	Data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform showing the number of PNDs issued, paid and not paid for the offences  (a) to  (f),  (h) and (i) in England and Wales from 2004 to 2006 (January to June provisional) can be found in the following table. (The offences referred to separately as  (a) behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and  (g) using threatening words and behaviour, are covered by the one offence of s.5 Public Order Act 1986).
	The initial payment rate for PNDs was 53 per cent. in 2005; an increase of 1 per cent. on 2004. (Only 1 per cent. requested a court hearing.) 42 per cent. of PND recipients had a fine of one and a half times the penalty registered against them as they failed to pay the penalty or request a court hearing within the 21 day suspended enforcement period. Once registered, these fines fall into the HMCS fine enforcement and collection systems. The courts are currently claiming an overall payment rate for fines of 95 per cent.
	
		
			  Number of persons issued with penalty notices for disorder for various offences in England and Wales, 2003 to 2005( 1, 2) 
			   DA04 causing harassment, alarm or distress  DA06 drunk and disorderly  DA18 sale of alcohol to person under 18  DA11 criminal damage (under £500)  DA12 theft (retail under £200)  DA13 breach of fireworks curfew( 3)  DA16 sale of alcohol to drunken person( 4) 
			 2004 28,790 26,609 113 1,190 2,072 12 0 
			 2005 64,007 37,038 2,058 12,168 21,997 33 32 
			 2006 36,639 19,917 1,562 8,631 16,807 11 23 
			 (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (2) January to June 2006 data is provisional. (3) Offence added to the PND Scheme on 11 October 2004. (4) Offence added to the PND scheme with effect from 4 April 2005.  Source: RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform.

Police

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was paid per head of population to police authorities in Wales by his Department in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Government grant funding( 1)  per head of population( 2) 
			   2002-03  2003-04 
			  Force  Home Office top-up grant( 4 ) (£)  Resident population  Funding per head of population (£)  Home Office top-up grant( 4 ) (£)  Resident population  Funding per head of population (£) 
			 Dyfed-Powys — 482,827 111.64 476,315 488,347 115.54 
			 Gwent — 557,368 129.56 — 552,505 138.57 
			 North Wales — 660,263 119.44 — 663,536 123.90 
			 South Wales — 1,245,737 135.82 4,741,252 1,198,768 145.64 
			
			 Wales — 2,946,195 127.00 5,217,567 2,903,156 134.26 
			 England and Wales — 52,936,913 142.55 — 52,077,279 153.75 
		
	
	
		
			   2004-05  2005-06  
			  Force  Home Office top-up grant( 4 ) (£)  Resident population  Funding per head of population (£)  Home Office top-up grant( 4 ) (£)  Resident population  Funding per head of population (£)  2005-06 (Adj)( 5)  (£) 
			 Dyfed-Powys 1,409,582 494,122 118.27 1,278,038 498,695 121.54 121.59 
			 Gwent 2,119,011 554,036 142.41 1,189,949 555,300 148.05 147.50 
			 North Wales 1,511,860 668,303 128.66 1,944,415 670,808 132.03 131.67 
			 South Wales 8,683,390 1,202,262 151.12 9,460,540 1,213,188 156.51 156.58 
			 
			 Wales 13,723,843 2,918,723 138.76 13,872,942 2,937,991 143.39 143.23 
			 England and Wales — 52,472,667 157.37 — 52,785,688 163.65 163.65 
		
	
	
		
			   2006-07 
			  Force  Redistribution of grant from South Wales( 3 ) (£)  Home Office top-up grant( 4 ) (£)  Resident population  Funding per head of population (£) 
			 Dyfed-Powys 1,096,290 2,588,267 506,804 126.65 
			 Gwent 1,572,132 1,099,853 563,027 152.96 
			 North Wales 1,545,303 5,636,768 680,508 132.36 
			 South Wales -4,213,725 — 1,229,752 159.86 
			  
			 Wales 0 9,324,888 2,980,091 146.63 
			 England and Wales — — 53,463,197 169.05 
			 (1) Government funding includes general grant (Home Office police grant. ODPM/Welsh Assembly Government revenue support grant and national non-domestic rates). It also includes specific grants: Crime Fighting Fund, Rural Policing Fund, Basic Command Unit funding, Community Support Officer funding (including, for 2004-05 and 2005-06. Round 1 of the Neighbourhood Policing Fund), Airwave, DNA Expansion Programme, Street Crime Initiative, Special Priority Payments and capital grants.  (2) Source for resident population figures: Department for Communities and Local Government, and Welsh Assembly Government as used in the calculation of the police funding settlements.  (3) South Wales had a reduction in grant provision to ensure it received a comparable general grant increase as police authorities in England. The amount South Wales was deducted (£4.2 million) was paid out to the other three Welsh police authorities.  (4) Top-up grant—Welsh Assembly Government does not operate a grant damping mechanism for revenue support grant/national non-domestic rates. The Home Secretary has, since 2003-04, provided additional funding to ensure Welsh police authorities receive at least a minimum floor increase in grant in line with English authorities.  (5) Adjusted for comparison purposes following the transfer of pensions and security funding from general grant in 2006-07 and the 2003-04 Amending Report repayments.

Police

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent front line police officers there were per head of population in each police force in each of the last three years.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 12 December 2006
	The available data are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Operational police officer strength( 1)  per 100,000 of the population( 2)  as at 31 March 2004 to 31 March 2006 
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Avon and Somerset 212 211 213 
			 Bedfordshire 193 192 194 
			 Cambridgeshire 165 163 162 
			 Cheshire 198 194 195 
			 Cleveland 263 257 231 
			 Cumbria 241 244 232 
			 Derbyshire 190 189 190 
			 Devon and Cornwall 191 196 201 
			 Dorset 181 160 186 
			 Durham 257 258 250 
			 Dyfed-Powys 201 196 215 
			 Essex 180 186 192 
			 Gloucestershire 207 207 206 
			 Greater Manchester 298 290 288 
			 Gwent 230 240 244 
			 Hampshire 195 191 189 
			 Hertfordshire 189 195 197 
			 Humberside 232 230 231 
			 Kent 210 198 195 
			 Lancashire 234 235 235 
			 Leicestershire 225 n/a 221 
			 Lincolnshire 173 171 172 
			 London, City of 8,865 9,201 9,210 
			 Merseyside 268 281 276 
			 Metropolitan Police 337 346 331 
			 Norfolk 173 173 175 
			 North Wales 190 n/a 223 
			 North Yorkshire 186 163 200 
			 Northamptonshire 186 191 191 
			 Northumbria 266 279 276 
			 Nottinghamshire 222 228 228 
			 South Wales 247 248 243 
			 South Yorkshire 205 234 237 
			 Staffordshire 195 197 195 
			 Suffolk 186 187 185 
			 Surrey 163 157 155 
			 Sussex 155 186 187 
			 Thames Valley 177 179 178 
			 Warwickshire 172 181 187 
			 West Mercia 188 188 187 
			 West Midlands 281 286 288 
			 West Yorkshire 242 259 261 
			 Wiltshire 181 180 177 
			 n/a = Not available for Leicestershire and North Wales for 2004-05. (1) Full-time equivalent figures given to the nearest whole number. Includes staff on career breaks or maternity or paternity leave. The number of operational police officers have been provided; the definition of which are as follows: "Any member of staff, including covert staff, whose primary role is directly to deliver the overarching aims of the Police Service. To 'directly deliver' the role must involve routine and immediate interface (either face to face or by telephone) with the public, including covert operational staff in such roles can be considered as front-line service providers." (2) Population data are taken from ONS mid-year estimates mid-2002.

Police

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances it is permissible for police forces to use non-lethal weapons.

Tony McNulty: Once authorised to use less lethal weapons, it is for the individual officer to ensure they act within the law. Under section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967, the use of force for the prevention of crime and apprehension of offenders and those unlawfully at large (both by the police and the public) must be 'reasonable' in all circumstances. It may be for a court to decide whether the officer's behaviour was reasonable. Common law also recognises that the use of force may be lawful if it is necessary for example in self defence or defence of another.

Police

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much each police force cost per head of population in the last period for which figures are available.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Police force costs per head of population 2005-06 
			  Estimated net expenditure per head of population 
			  Police authority  Total net expenditure 2005-06 estimates( 3 ) (£)  Resident population( 1)  Cost per head of population 2005-06 (£) 
			 Avon and Somerset 240,632,000 1,508,171 159.55 
			 Bedfordshire 87,283,000 573,765 152.12 
			 Cambridgeshire 112,674,000 729,812 154.39 
			 Cheshire 148,604,000 990,323 150.06 
			 Cleveland 114,811,000 554,546 207.04 
			 Cumbria 89,115,000 489,829 181.93 
			 Derbyshire 145,884,000 976,212 149.44 
			 Devon and Cornwall 243,711,000 1,601,215 152.20 
			 Dorset 106,977,000 699,428 152.95 
			 Durham 105,403,000 592,369 177.93 
			 Essex 232,229,000 1,629,647 142.50 
			 Gloucestershire 95,928,000 568,452 168.75 
			 Hampshire 268,094,000 1,797,070 149.18 
			 Hertfordshire 159,458,000 1,040,925 153.19 
			 Humberside 156,909,000 881 ,652 177.97 
			 Kent 256,520,000 1,599,912 160.33 
			 Lancashire 240,365,000 1,429,212 168.18 
			 Leicestershire 146,276,000 938,811 155.81 
			 Lincolnshire 89,864,000 665,270 135.08 
			 Norfolk 126,989,000 810,695 156.64 
			 Northamptonshire 110,200,000 642,708 171.46 
			 North Yorkshire 126,166,000 759,183 166.19 
			 Nottinghamshire 173,367,000 1 ,029,293 168.43 
			 Staffordshire 163,905,000 1,048,973 156.25 
			 Suffolk 98,863,000 678,074 145.80 
			 Surrey 165,407,000 1,064,575 155.37 
			 Sussex 231,282,000 1,506,187 153.55 
			 Thames Valley 325,214,000 2,112,536 153.94 
			 Warwickshire 77,200,000 519,301 148.66 
			 West Mercia 172,791,000 1,173,231 147.28 
			 Wiltshire 92,612,000 622,021 148.89 
			  Shires 4,904,733,000 31,233,398 157.03 
			 
			 Greater Manchester 493,914,000 2,530,956 195.15 
			 Merseyside 307,130,000 1,364,212 225.13 
			 Northumbria 262,015,000 1,392,448 188.17 
			 South Yorkshire 225,363,000 1,272,609 177.09 
			 West Midlands 490,960,000 2,578,387 190.41 
			 West Yorkshire 382,975,000 2,095,862 182.73 
			  Prov Mets 2,162,357,000 11,234,474 192.48 
			 
			 Metropolitan 2,488.300,000 7,379.825 337. 18 
			 
			  Total England( 2) 9,555,390,000 49,847,697 191.69 
			 
			 Dyfed-Powys 80,277,000 498,695 160.97 
			 Gwent 102,311,000 555,300 184.24 
			 North Wales 120,479,000 670,808 179,60 
			 South Wales 227,435,000 1,213,188 187.47 
			  Total Wales 530,502,000 2,937,991 180.57 
			 
			  Total England and Wales 10,085,892,000 52,785,688 191.07 
			 (1) Resident population are 2003 figures. (2) City of London not included as population figures not available. ( 3 ) Source:  The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy police statistics (CIPFA).

Prison Service

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which places of detention on the prison estate have  (a) seconded,  (b) designated and  (c) appointed a (i) full-time and (ii) part-time foreign national prisoner co-ordinator or equivalent post; and which foreign national prisoner co-ordinators are available to non-governmental organisations working on prisoner welfare matters.

Gerry Sutcliffe: As of July 2006,108 public sector prisons and nine contracted prisons in England and Wales had a member of staff assigned to the role of foreign national co-ordinator. The number of hours spent on this role will depend on the number of foreign national prisoners in the establishment but is not centrally recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Foreign national co-ordinators carry out the duties and functions of the prison in respect, but they will liaise and work with non-governmental organisation wherever possible and appropriate.

Prison Service

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many Prison Service staff attended the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre after 28 November to assist in dealing with the incident which occurred there on that date;
	(2)  what the cost was of seconding prison staff from gaols in England and Wales to attend the incident at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre on 28 November; and whether he plans to recoup the cost from the company which runs the centre;
	(3)  what the cost was of co-ordinating the Gold Command Centre in connection with the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre incident on 28 November.

Gerry Sutcliffe: About 512 Prison Service staff from across England and Wales attended Harmondsworth immigration removal centre after 28 November to assist dealing with an incident. 42 staff from contracted prisons also attended.
	The cost of seconding Prison Service staff to attend the incident at Harmondsworth is approximately £84,000. The protocol for the provision of Prison Service assistance to immigration service removal centres states that
	"the IRC contractor will be responsible for the payment of the Prison Service costs incurred in any incident".
	The cost of co-ordinating the Prison Service gold command suite is estimated at £12,000.
	All figures provided are provisional. It is not possible to provide accurate figures until the investigation has been completed.

Prisons

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if he will list the inquiries conduced at HM Prison  (a) Wandsworth,  (b) Wormwood Scrubs,  (c) Pentonville and  (d) Belmarsh into allegations of prisoner abuse since 1998; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many inquiries were conducted at each London prison establishment into allegations of prisoner abuse in each year since 1998; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 12 December 2006
	The Investigation Support Section, formed in July 2000, holds and monitors centrally all formally registered investigations as per Prison Service Order 1300 - Investigations. Therefore it is not possible to examine records before July 2000.
	The following table details the number of formal investigations into allegations of inappropriate treatment of individual prisoners by the Prison Service which have been conducted in the London Area prisons since July 2000.
	In addition four reports have been prepared into the Management of Wormwood Scrubs and the treatment of prisoners there during the 1990's, and one review was carried out into allegations of racist behaviour by staff at Brixton in 2003.
	
		
			   1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  Total 
			 Latchmere n/a n/a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Holloway n/a n/a 3 4 5 5 3 3 2 24 
			 Feltham n/a n/a 1 26 11 12 7 7 4 68 
			 Brixton n/a n/a 6 11 15 5 6 9 11 63 
			 Pentonville n/a n/a 1 11 6 16 2 5 4 46 
			 Wormwood Scrubs n/a n/a 1 13 13 9 5 1 2 44 
			 Wandsworth n/a n/a 1 2 7 2 7 3 5 27 
			 Belmarsh n/a n/a 0 2 2 0 1 1 1 7 
			 Total n/a n/a 13 69 59 49 31 29 29 279

Prisons

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the capacity of each prison was in each of the last five years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is contained in the following table.
	Operational capacity for establishments is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by senior operational managers on the basis of operational judgement and experience.
	
		
			   Operational capacities 
			  Prisons  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 Acklington 782 787 881 882 882 854 
			 Albany 446 446 526 526 526 528 
			 Altcourse 850 965 1,010 1,024 903 1,024 
			 Ashfield 400 400 400 300 360 380 
			 Ashwell 386 494 536 545 545 545 
			 Askham Grange 132 141 141 151 131 128 
			 Aylesbury 352 352 355 364 438 444 
			 Bedford 422 440 464 464 494 494 
			 Belmarsh 935 869 889 921 917 915 
			 Birmingham 850 900 930 1,400 1,402 1,450 
			 Blakenhurst 850 850 880 880 1,060 1,070 
			 Blantyre House 120 120 122 122 122 122 
			 Blundeston 424 424 464 464 464 464 
			 Brinsford 493 493 493 493 493 489 
			 Bristol 555 603 606 584 606 606 
			 Brixton 784 772 798 798 798 798 
			 Brockhill 166 167 167 167 148 150 
			 Bronzefield — — — 50 451 450 
			 Buckley Hall 390 390 320 331 385 385 
			 Bullingdon 921 933 963 963 963 963 
			 Bullwood Hall 180 184 184 184 171 184 
			 Camp Hill 545 545 545 585 585 585 
			 Canterbury 304 314 314 314 314 284 
			 Cardiff 638 669 669 669 754 754 
			 Castington 406 406 410 346 410 410 
			 Channings Wood 615 625 627 667 667 667 
			 Chelmsford 501 576 576 575 575 575 
			 Coldingley 370 378 390 390 390 392 
			 Cookham Wood 150 153 139 140 168 185 
			 Dartmoor 652 642 625 625 625 625 
			 Deerbolt 426 486 518 518 518 458 
			 Doncaster 1,111 1,111 1,120 1,120 1,120 1,120 
			 Dorchester 272 272 263 250 260 260 
			 Dovegate — 800 860 860 800 860 
			 Dover 193 158 316 316 314 263 
			 Downview 343 292 224 230 251 347 
			 Drake Hall 267 304 315 315 315 315 
			 Durham 737 730 728 748 725 921 
			 East Sutton Park 100 100 100 100 100 100 
			 Eastwood Park 324 328 309 346 346 362 
			 Highpoint Nth — 300 310 310 160 371 
			 Elmley 950 955 985 985 985 985 
			 Erlestoke 326 326 386 426 426 426 
			 Everthorpe 470 386 469 465 469 681 
			 Exeter 535 533 533 527 533 533 
			 Featherstone 597 611 615 615 615 615 
			 Feltham 729 715 748 761 761 764 
			 Ford 501 541 541 541 541 541 
			 Forest Bank 800 1,040 1,040 1,064 1,040 1,064 
			 Foston Hall 168 219 235 235 223 274 
			 Frankland 707 638 653 692 734 734 
			 Full Sutton 607 607 607 608 608 588 
			 Garth 653 667 667 667 667 619 
			 Gartree 282 289 276 404 440 476 
			 Glen Parva 802 802 808 808 808 808 
			 Gloucester 281 330 324 328 313 323 
			 Grendon 201 231 231 231 235 235 
			 Guys Marsh 524 524 570 570 570 578 
			 Haslar 160 160 163 123 160 160 
			 Haverigg 554 564 564 564 546 568 
			 Hewell Grange 187 191 178 178 176 187 
			 Highdown 714 714 734 750 736 747 
			 Highpoint Sth 852 610 696 816 800 816 
			 Hindley 558 559 559 539 455 455 
			 Hollesley Bay 399 248 329 330 330 330 
			 Holloway 483 483 497 495 485 493 
			 Holme House 971 995 995 994 994 994 
			 Hull 633 653 1,031 1,071 1,071 1,000 
			 Huntercombe 368 352 350 368 368 368 
			 Kingston 193 197 190 140 196 194 
			 Kirkham 577 561 551 590 590 570 
			 Kirklevington 183 183 223 223 223 223 
			 Lancaster 240 244 244 232 244 243 
			 Lancaster Farms 536 546 526 527 527 527 
			 Latchmere House 193 192 196 198 207 207 
			 Leeds 1,254 1,254 1,254 1,254 1,254 1,150 
			 Leicester 361 371 385 385 355 385 
			 Lewes 496 546 517 526 545 558 
			 Leyhill 422 432 512 512 508 512 
			 Lincoln 552 550 481 490 490 490 
			 Lindholme 613 761 761 719 849 849 
			 Littlehey 648 660 666 706 706 706 
			 Liverpool 1,510 1,504 1,480 1,476 1,438 1,377 
			 Long Lartin 523 441 442 442 444 444 
			 Low Newton 285 296 316 396 396 310 
			 Lowdham Grange 500 524 524 524 500 524 
			 Maidstone 393 447 548 548 548 589 
			 Manchester 1,163 1,257 1,269 1,269 1,269 1,269 
			 Moorland 779 779 779 779 779 791 
			 Moorland Open/ 180 180 260 260 260 260 
			 Morton Hall 192 196 356 392 392 392 
			 Mount 745 760 760 760 708 720 
			 New Hall 386 396 426 426 426 443 
			 North Sea Camp 208 267 307 307 306 306 
			 Northallerton 264 254 254 254 209 248 
			 Nottingham 523 510 550 510 510 510 
			 Onley 640 580 580 580 520 580 
			 Parc 948 968 1,028 1,028 1,036 1,036 
			 Parkhurst 517 527 507 507 507 507 
			 Pentonville 1,175 1,175 1,205 1,205 1,189 1,127 
			 Peterborough — — — — 525 840 
			 Portland 542 542 456 476 398 524 
			 Prescoed 128 128 170 170 170 170 
			 Preston 602 630 664 616 620 690 
			 Ranby 779 778 804 858 1,038 1,038 
			 Reading 241 289 289 289 297 297 
			 Risley 837 835 1,083 1,073 1,073 1,073 
			 Rochester 444 164 180 319 392 392 
			 Rye Hill 600 660 664 664 600 600 
			 Send 220 220 220 217 218 218 
			 Shepton Mallet 174 189 189 189 186 189 
			 Shrewsbury 342 342 350 350 300 340 
			 Spring Hill 256 256 336 336 314 325 
			 Stafford 627 640 640 680 680 676 
			 Standford Hill 384 384 464 464 464 464 
			 Stocken 582 582 622 622 622 622 
			 Stoke Heath 564 688 688 690 690 690 
			 Styal 455 463 468 457 455 469 
			 Sudbury 519 519 559 559 571 571 
			 Swaleside 775 777 777 777 778 778 
			 Swansea 201 366 368 348 425 425 
			 Swinfen Hall 319 320 320 440 590 620 
			 Thorn Cross 316 316 316 316 316 321 
			 Usk 220 220 242 250 250 250 
			 Verne 577 587 587 587 587 587 
			 Wakefield 586 581 571 565 565 751 
			 Wandsworth 1,371 1,461 1,461 1,441 1,416 1,459 
			 Warren Hill — 214 220 222 222 222 
			 Wayland 648 660 706 706 709 709 
			 Wealstun 632 632 640 812 892 907 
			 Weare 400 400 400 396 398 — 
			 Wellingborough 518 526 526 526 548 614 
			 Werrington 140 134 148 148 148 162 
			 Wetherby 360 360 360 324 360 363 
			 Whatton 275 280 360 360 360 761 
			 Whitemoor 408 444 539 456 458 458 
			 Winchester 630 637 637 655 695 697 
			 Wolds 405 410 360 360 350 300 
			 Woodhill 775 773 789 789 762 762 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 987 1,192 1,229 1,239 1,239 1,239 
			 Wymott 805 821 866 1,028 1,046 1,046 
		
	
	The information provided is taken from figures for June of each year.

Prisons

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) foreign nationals, broken down by nationality and  (b) UK citizens were held in each prison in Kent on 30 November 2006.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Information on the number of prisoners held in prison establishments, broken down by  (a) foreign nationals and  (b) UK citizens, in Kent at the end of October 2006 can be found in the following table. This is the latest date for which information is available.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and although shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.
	
		
			  Population in prison establishments in Kent( 1 ) by nationality and establishment, England and Wales 31 October( 2)  2006 
			   Foreign nationals( 3)  British nationals 
			 Blantyre House (4)— 123 
			 CookhamWood 38 143 
			 Canterbury 243 27 
			 Standford Hill 34 412 
			 East Sutton Park  93 
			 Elmley 201 782 
			 Maidstone 131 451 
			 Rochester 64 321 
			 Swaleside 183 571 
			 (1) Not including Dover Immigration Removal Centre (2) Latest data available (3) 26 prisoners across Kent had unrecorded nationality (4) 10 prisoners or fewer

Prisons

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  when the local drug strategy at HM Prison Pentonville was last updated; and if he will place a copy in the Library;
	(2)  what measures have been taken at HM Prison Pentonville to reduce the drug supply over the last 18 months; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Local Drug Strategy for HMP Pentonville was last updated on 22 November 2006, is a restricted document, and it is not appropriate for public disclosure.
	The reduction in the supply of drugs into HMP Pentonville continues to be pursued in a number of ways by the Drug Strategy Team and Security Department at the establishment. It would not be appropriate for operational reasons to give details of the strategies currently in place.

Probation Service

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the  (a) benefits and  (b) disadvantages of outsourcing the functions of the probation service.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the functions of the probation service were assessed in the light of experience gained following the contracting out of areas of activity on the custodial side on the National Offender Management Service. Estimated efficiency savings were modelled in the range of 3.5 per cent. to 8.5 per cent., in line with the savings delivered after those earlier contracting out exercises. The financial disadvantages of outsourcing, arising from additional tendering and contract management costs, were outweighed by the estimated savings.

Probation Service

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the caseload is of the National Probation Service
	(2)  how many people are being supervised by the National Probation Service; and how many offenders have been allocated to each tier under the National Offender Management model.

Gerry Sutcliffe: At the end of December 2005, probation areas reported 224,094 people under their supervision (i.e. their caseload). The number of offenders supervised in the community (i.e. excluding those still in custody) was 162,005. The number of these offenders allocated to each tier under the National Offender Management model is shown in the following table. In December 2005, the "tiering" concept was only being applied to those supervised in the community.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and although shown to the last individual the figure may not be accurate to that level.
	
		
			  Persons supervised by the Probation Service at 31 December 2005, by supervision tier 
			   Number 
			 Tier 1 47,011 
			 Tier 2 23,824 
			 Tier 3 36,455 
			 Tier 4 43,474 
			 Tier not stated 11,241 
			 Total 162,005 
			  Source:  These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, and so, although shown to the last individual, the figures may not be accurate to that level.

Probation Service

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the role of the National Offender Manager (Wales) in the delivery of the Probation Service in Wales.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 5 December 2006
	The Director of Commissioning regularly reviews the performance and effectiveness of all the NOMS commissioners, including the Director of Offender Management, Wales. The effectiveness of what commissioners can achieve in relation to probation performance is limited until legislation is in place that will enable commissioners to contract with other providers where underperformance is not addressed sufficiently by a current provider.
	The reviews of commissioner effectiveness include specific attention to probation area performance, and the degree to which probation areas are delivering the SLA requirements. Commissioning remains under development in NOMS and commissioners have, to date, had limited scope to re-specify services to align them more closely to identified needs. In parallel with commissioners reviewing performance against the SLAs the National Probation Directorate (NPD) continues to have a line management function of probation Chief Officers.
	The NPD publishes quarterly performance reports, many elements of which are also addressed in the SLAs between probation areas and commissioners. The most recent report includes positive commentary from the National Probation Director reinforcing the longer term trend of overall probation performance improvement nationally. The report includes a 'weighted score car', and a 'zero line' above which probation areas are generally meeting expectations, and below which they are not. For Wales the current position is that three areas are above the 'zero line' and one, North Wales, is not.

Sentence Tariffs

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average sentence tariff was of  (a) a burglar,  (b) an armed robber,  (c) a cause of aggravated assault and  (d) a drug dealer in the last period for which figures are available; and what it was in 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Information on the average custodial sentence length imposed for these offences in England and Wales for the years 1997 and 2005 is shown in the table. Also shown are the total number of persons receiving immediate custodial sentences for these offences and those who received life or indeterminate sentences.
	The offenders receiving the new indeterminate sentences are not included in the average sentence length calculation. So the average sentences for robbery in 1997 and 2005 are not directly comparable.
	
		
			  Persons sentenced to immediate custody and average custodial sentence length( 1)  for certain offences, England and Wales, 1997 and 2005 
			  Offence  Year  Persons sentenced to immediate custody  Of which: sentenced to life or indeterminate sentence  Average custodial sentence length( 1)  (months) 
			 Burglary 1997 14,338 — 15.8 
			  2005 9,550 14 17.4 
			  
			 Robbery(2) 1997 4,008 4 39.1 
			  2005 4,407 201 35.0 
			  
			 Grievous bodily harm with intent 1997 1,359 12 44.1 
			  2005 1,516 124 48.6 
			  
			 Racially or religiously aggravated assault(3) (4)1999 54 — 5.7 
			  2005 287 1 8.5 
			  
			 Drug dealing(5) 1997 5,405 1 26.4 
			  2005 5,397 1 36.0 
			 (1 )Excluding life and indeterminate sentences. Offenders receiving an indeterminate sentence for public protection for a serious offence would previously have been included in the average custodial sentence length and are no longer. This may result in a decrease in average custodial sentence lengths. (2 )Figures cover all robbery offences—armed robbery cannot be separately identified. (3 )Includes racially or religiously aggravated common assault and assaults occasioning actual bodily harm. (4 )Offences introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, so 1999, first full year, shown. (5 )Includes the offences of supplying or offering to supply (or being concerned in supplying or offering to supply) or having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply (all drug types).  Notes: Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile these figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown.  Source: RDS-NOMS, Home Office

Surveillance

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety will write to the hon. Member for West Bromwich East as promised in the answer of 8 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1658W, on covert surveillance.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 5 December 2006
	I replied to the hon. Member on 11 December.

Terrorism

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons are being detained without charge under suspicion of terrorist activities.

Tony McNulty: We have taken the use of the word detained to include those individuals arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000, those arrested under other legislation where the investigation is treated as terrorist related, detentions under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, Part 4 powers and detentions under Schedule 7 Terrorism Act 2000.
	Statistics on arrests under Terrorism Act 2000 are compiled from 11 September 2001. From this date to 30 September 2006, there have been 1,113 arrests under the Terrorism Act 2000. There were also 27 arrests under legislation other than the Terrorism Act, where the investigation was conducted as a terrorist investigation.
	It should be noted that some individuals arrested under the Terrorism Act are subsequently released without charge or are subject to further action which is not connected with suspicion of involvement in terrorism. It would therefore be inaccurate to state that all those arrested remain 'terrorist suspects'.
	17 people were certified under part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001. Of these, 16 were certified and detained, and one was certified but detained under other powers.
	In addition there are detention powers under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, but statistics on persons detained under these powers are not held in the form requested.

Terrorism

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of terrorist crimes in the last 10 year period for which information is available.

Tony McNulty: The Home Office does not have figures for individuals convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Acts broken down into years however between 22 March 1984 and 18 February 2001, 312 individuals were convicted under the Act and 241 were convicted under other legislation.
	Statistics compiled from police records show that from 11 September 2001 to 30 September 2006, 38 people were convicted under the Terrorism Act and 176 individuals were convicted under other legislation.
	
		
			  Terrorism Act 2000 
			   Number of persons convicted under the Act  Number of persons convicted under other legislation 
			 2001(1) 3 5 
			 2002 10 48 
			 2003 11 66 
			 2004 2 25 
			 2005 8 25 
			 2006(2) 4 7 
			 (1) This is from 11 September 2001. (2) This is up to 30 September 2006.

Together Action Areas

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding has been provided to the Together Action Areas designated in October 2004; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the project in each of the designated areas.

John Reid: Since 2004, £7.8 million has been allocated to the 60 'Together' Trailblazer and Action Areas to use as an extra front line resource to tackle antisocial behaviour.
	This is in addition to the £25,000 per annum which has been provided to every Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership in England and Wales for an antisocial behaviour co-ordinator to prioritise and drive forward action on local issues.
	The National Audit Office's Value for Money Report, 'Tackling Antisocial Behaviour' published on 7 December 2006, considered the effectiveness of this Government's strategy to tackle antisocial behaviour, including that pursued in Trailblazer and Action Areas. We welcome the National Audit Office's conclusions that our twin track approach of support and sanction is effective. The findings show that the majority of people surveyed who have received an antisocial behaviour intervention have not re-engaged in antisocial behaviour.
	The effectiveness of action in Trailblazer and Action Areas has also been identified through the British Crime Survey (2002-03 and 2004-05) which shows that between 2002 and 2005, the percentage of people perceiving there to be high levels of antisocial behaviour in their area fell at a greater rate in Trailblazer and Action Areas (from 25 per cent. to 19 per cent.) than in other areas (from 19 per cent. to 16 per cent.) over the same period. Similarly, the Recorded Crime Statistics for 2003-04 and 2004-05 also show that the fall in antisocial behaviour-related forms of criminal damage in the 60 areas, for example graffiti, was above the national average.

Young Offenders

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) juvenile and  (b) young adult offenders were in sustainable employment (i) three months, (ii) six months and (iii) 12 months after being released from secure accommodation in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Home Office does not collect any data on numbers of juvenile and young adult offenders in sustainable employment following release from secure accommodation, therefore we are unable to supply data in answer to this question.

Agency Staff

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) doctors and  (b) nurses from agencies were used by the NHS in each English region in each year since 2000; and what the costs were for each region in each year.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not collect agency staff numbers. However, spend data for trusts and primary care trusts are available in the table. Data for 2004-05 excludes foundation trusts.
	
		
			  Non-NHS medical spend and spend on nursing, midwifery and health visiting by SHA and financial year 
			2000-01  2001-02  2002-03 
			  SHA code  SHA name  Medical  Nursing, midwifery and health visiting  Medical  Nursing, midwifery and health visiting  Medical  Nursing, midwifery and health visiting 
			 Q30 North East 4,574,486 3,566,421 5,227,714 5,823,175 8,646,713 7,541,577 
			 Q31 North West 15,759,206 30,995,987 21,013,273 47,295,661 29,302,649 60,560,686 
			 Q32 Yorkshire and the Humber 12,645,774 13,346,687 13,853,437 30,004,971 21,380,739 21,167,945 
			 Q33 East Midlands 7,073,519 12,166,245 11,550,227 16,002,043 17,772,192 20,632,496 
			 Q34 West Midlands 15,025,840 40,143,257 21,606,443 48,663,556 27,958,423 52,833,559 
			 Q35 East of England 15,853,601 42,387,989 23,073,463 50,578,689 29,778,214 54,395,302 
			 Q36 London 32,140,831 200,840,139 46,710,105 229,287,810 66,810,637 220,760,195 
			 Q37 South East Coast 15,683,948 31,624,469 23,038,936 45,565,768 35,148,329 57,689,254 
			 Q38 South Central 8,328,922 33,218,475 14,088,179 35,187,004 20,511,155 38,725,168 
			 Q39 South West 10,654,980 25,510,513 15,745,119 45,036,721 21,147,702 55,411,469 
			  England total 137,741,107 433,800,182 195,906,896 553,445,398 278,456,753 589,717,651 
		
	
	
		
			2003-04  2004-05 
			  SHA code  SHA name  Medical  Nursing, midwifery and health visiting  Medical  Nursing, midwifery and health visiting 
			 Q30 North East 10,308,303 8,367,873 13,073,000 7,161,000 
			 Q31 North West 39,929,044 45,171,069 43,832,000 36,572,000 
			 Q32 Yorkshire and the Humber 36,894,785 21,307,744 26,891,000 16,792,000 
			 Q33 East Midlands 25,201,875 27,567,730 22,741,000 21,243,000 
			 Q34 West Midlands 36,826,114 46,371,133 31,424,000 37,445,000 
			 Q35 East of England 37,414,207 49,855,995 41,395,000 37,865,000 
			 Q36 London 73,249,012 186,424,809 66,217,000 141,091,000 
			 Q37 South East Coast 38,876,264 48,974,866 34,134,000 36,319,000 
			 Q38 South Central 22,443,449 46,033,805 23,586,000 29,397,000 
			 Q39 South West 24,174,782 44,596,081 23,750,000 36,110,000 
			  England total 345,317,835 524,671,105 327,043,000 399,995,000

Audiology Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2006,  Official Report, column 789W, on audiology services, what steps she plans to take to ensure that local commissioners use funding procured through the independent sector treatment centre programme for audiology procurement; and what factors were taken into account when deciding that the funding for additional audiology pathways was not to be ring-fenced.

Ivan Lewis: The Department in conjunction with strategic health authorities and primary care trusts (PCTs) is currently scoping audiology requirements locally. PCTs will agree local demand for audiology services and confirm schemes are affordable within the context of their own resources before the procurement is advertised. This will ensure that there is local support and a real capacity requirement for additional audiology services.
	Funding allocations are made direct to PCTs to put resources and responsibilities in the hands of front line services. Individual PCTs are best placed to take the decisions on the commissioning of healthcare services, including audiology, for their local populations based on their knowledge of the local community.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of children in England  (a) diagnosed and  (b) undiagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder.

Ivan Lewis: In March 2001 the Department commissioned the Medical Research Council (MRC) to produce a report on the prevalence, incidence and causes of autism. This was published in December 2001 and provides an authoritative overview of the current state of knowledge on the prevalence, incidence and causes of autism.
	The report considers recent studies which suggest a prevalence of autism in young children of approximately 60 per 10,000 population and finds that much of the headline rise can be accounted for by changes in diagnostic practice and public awareness. It is available on the MRC website at:
	http://www.mrc.ac.uk/pdf-autism-report.pdf.
	We have not made an estimate of the number of children in England undiagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder.

Breast Cancer

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many breast cancer screenings took place in Surrey Heath in each year from 1997 to 2006.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is available only at primary care trust (PCT) level, and only from 2002 onwards. The following table contains details of the number of women aged between 53 and 64 screened under the breast cancer screening programme for each of the five former PCTs in Surrey from 2002 to 2005:
	
		
			  Breast screening programme: number of women screened aged 53 to 64 for PCTs in Surrey as at 31 March each specified year 
			  Number 
			   2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 East Elmbridge and Mid Surrey 14,282 14,584 15,454 15,518 
			 East Surrey 7,994 8,005 8,353 8,599 
			 Guilford and Waverley 12,827 13,016 12,987 14,074 
			 North Surrey 9,138 9,952 10,638 11,054 
			 Woking and Surrey Heath 8,886 10,317 9,863 11,068 
			  Notes:  1. Surrey PCT was formed in 2006 from the existing five PCTs as shown above.  2. PCT level data are unavailable previous to 2002.  3. Data are only recorded only for screening on women aged 53 to 64.   Source:  The Information Centre for health and social care KC53 return.

Breast Cancer

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on delays to breast cancer screening services at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal NHS Hospital Trust.

Rosie Winterton: The average intervals between screenings for breast cancer by local screening units is not collected centrally. However, national health service cancer screening programmes requested data from the NHS breast screening programme on the percentage of local screening units achieving the 36 month national standard between screens for quarter four 2005-06, i.e. January to March 2006).
	In England, 60 per cent. of women were re-screened within the 36 month national standard. 82 per cent. of women were re-screened within 38 months.
	The NHS cancer plan, published in 2000, stated that we would extend invitations for breast screening to women aged 65 to 70 and introduce two-view mammography at all screening rounds. Thanks to the efforts of the staff in the screening programme, these targets have now been achieved in all local breast screening units. The expansion is already showing an effect, with nearly 12,000 cancers diagnosed by the programme in 2004-05, an increase of 40 per cent. on 2001 when the expansion began.
	However, the changes together represent a 40 per cent. increase in the workload of the programme. We are aware that this has had an impact on some services maintaining the three-year interval for screening and we are taking steps to bring all screening intervals back to three years.
	The Department cancer programme board, chaired by the National Cancer Director Professor Mike Richards, has taken a particular interest in this area. The board is considering a course of action with the support of the Department's recovery and support unit.

Cancer and Heart Disease

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 439W-40W, on cancer/heart disease (mortality rates), if she will estimate how many lives were saved by the reduction in  (a) cancer and  (b) cardiovascular disease mortality rates between 1989 and 1996.

Rosie Winterton: 'Lives saved' is an assessment of the cumulative effect of year on year reductions to the numbers of deaths in a specific age group and from a specific cause of death. In this case, it relates to deaths from circulatory disease and cancer at ages under 75.
	It is calculated by subtracting from the number of deaths that occurred in the first year of the period, the number of deaths registered in each subsequent year, and then totalling the differences.
	An estimate of the 'lives saved' over the time period requested is as follows:
	
		
			  'Lives saved' at ages under 75 
			   Persons aged under 75 
			  Lives saved  Circulatory Disease (100-199)  Neoplasms (C00-C97) 
			 1989-96 (seven years) 64,000 20,000

Care Contracts: Torbay

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to assess the service provided by the three care companies recently awarded five year care contracts for the provision of services for vulnerable people in Torbay; how regularly she plans to do so; and what notice clauses there are in the contracts should any of the three companies default on the provision of services which they have contracted to provide.

Ivan Lewis: The provision of services in Torbay is a matter for the local national health service. However, I am informed by NHS South West that the three providers are Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) registered and are therefore subject to external monitoring.
	I am also informed by NHS South West that the contracts between the providers and Torbay Care Trust include termination clauses relating to failure to deliver care or failure to act in accordance with the contract, in line with the trust's normal contract guidelines.

Delayed Discharges

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many delayed discharges there were in each NHS trust in London in each of the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The information is in the table.
	
		
			  Delayed transfers of care from acute beds, London, November 2005 to October 2006 
			   2005  2006 
			  Organisation  November  December  January  February  March  April 
			 London 377 329 383 327 364 361 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Barking. Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust 30 30 39 34 29 22 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 28 23 38 25 34 25 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Barts and The London NHS Trust 13 5 4 1 9 5 
			 Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust 2 3 2 5 4 5 
			 Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Camden PCT 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Central and North West London Mental Health Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 7 6 4 6 10 9 
			 Croydon Community NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Ealing Hospital NHS Trust 1 6 2 7 4 9 
			 East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust 26 30 32 24 34 37 
			 Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust 6 3 3 3 1 4 
			 Harrow PCT 15 18 17 14 15 16 
			 Homerton Hospital NHS Trust 1 2 6 4 6 5 
			 King's College Hospital NHS Trust 4 6 3 9 8 4 
			 Kingston and District Community NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Kingston Hospital NHS Trust 30 23 19 14 17 10 
			 Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust 10 7 9 9 6 4 
			 London Ambulance Service NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust 43 31 40 23 12 22 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Newham University Hospital NHS Trust 5 4 1 1 1 3 
			 North East London Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust 7 10 18 18 24 17 
			 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 24 21 24 21 29 31 
			 Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust 16 9 11 14 16 14 
			 Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust 10 6 8 7 5 6 
			 Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital 0 0 0 0 3 0 
			 South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 St George's Healthcare NHS Trust 12 14 17 16 11 12 
			 St Mary's Hospital NHS Trust 4 6 11 7 11 7 
			 SW London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Teddington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 The Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust 18 11 16 19 16 13 
			 The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust 19 21 10 7 15 15 
			 The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust 7 5 5 3 4 6 
			 University College London Hospitals NHS Trust 0 1 6 8 5 4 
			 Wandsworth PCT 0 0 0 0 0 14 
			 West London Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 West Middlesex University NHS Trust 2 0 3 0 0 8 
			 Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 27 24 22 14 20 14 
			 Whittington Hospital NHS Trust 10 4 13 14 15 20 
		
	
	
		
			   2006 
			   May  June  July  August  September  October 
			 London 346 331 329 252 395 306 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT 0 0 2 4 0 0 
			 Barking. Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust 27 32 25 25 34 37 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 19 15 21 21 32 25 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 45 0 37 17 
			 Barts and The London NHS Trust 7 11 7 4 11 16 
			 Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust 5 4 4 9 4 6 
			 Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Camden PCT 0 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Central and North West London Mental Health Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 1 6 4 9 7 3 
			 Croydon Community NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Ealing Hospital NHS Trust 6 9 6 4 16 11 
			 East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust 32 26 24 11 22 11 
			 Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust 2 1 2 1 2 2 
			 Harrow PCT 8 12 0 0 0 0 
			 Homerton Hospital NHS Trust 5 4 6 3 2 5 
			 King's College Hospital NHS Trust 7 3 6 5 3 3 
			 Kingston and District Community NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Kingston Hospital NHS Trust 18 21 13 20 22 17 
			 Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust 5 4 1 12 3 6 
			 London Ambulance Service NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust 27 24 8 10 0 11 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Newham University Hospital NHS Trust 2 8 2 8 8 4 
			 North East London Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust 14 6 6 7 9 8 
			 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 21 21 23 16 29 22 
			 Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust 16 12 16 0 20 15 
			 Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust 5 6 6 5 6 3 
			 Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital 1 2 1 1 2 0 
			 South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust 0 0 0 0 42 5 
			 St George's Healthcare NHS Trust 17 18 15 14 20 15 
			 St Mary's Hospital NHS Trust 8 11 15 14 8 6 
			 SW London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Teddington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 The Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust 16 19 24 15 14 11 
			 The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust 11 10 8 12 8 12 
			 The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust 10 8 3 2 3 6 
			 University College London Hospitals NHS Trust 3 2 1 1 2 3 
			 Wandsworth PCT 13 10 7 7 4 7 
			 West London Mental Health NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 West Middlesex University NHS Trust 6 3 9 0 2 1 
			 Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 19 10 9 10 14 9 
			 Whittington Hospital NHS Trust 15 13 10 1 9 9 
			  Note:  The table includes four PCT which had delayed transfers of care.  Source: Department of Health, SitReps

Dentistry

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her answer of 6 December 2006,  Official Report, column 548W, on dentistry, if she will list the  (a) most common reasons for primary care trust income being below expected levels and  (b) options available to trusts in taking corrective action.

Rosie Winterton: It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to review with dentists the potential factors affecting levels of patient charge income. It is not possible to assess at national level the precise relative importance of different factors. However, relevant factors may include the annual number of units of dental activity commissioned by PCTs, the time needed for new dental services to be commissioned and come into operation, the timeliness of the reports submitted by dentists on completed courses of treatment, changes in the mix of charge-paying and charge exempt patients treated, and the incidence of certain charge-free courses of treatment for patients who would normally pay charges. Variations in these and other factors may either reduce or increase the income from patient charges from one year to the next.
	Any action taken by PCTs and dentists will depend on the nature of the factors relevant at local level. Action might, however, include improving the timeliness of reporting, reviewing practice protocols for accepting new patients, and discussing with providers the reasons for higher than expected levels of charge-free treatments.

Dentistry

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 442W, on dentistry, when she expects to be able to estimate with certainty the full levels of income likely to be raised this year from patient charge revenue from NHS dental services.

Rosie Winterton: No definitive estimate of patient charge revenue is possible ahead of receiving final outturn data for the full financial year. The Information Centre for health and social care will publish information on income from dental patient charges in due course. Primary care trusts will be monitoring patient charge revenue at a local level in the context of managing their overall net financial commitments.

Dentistry

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2006,  Official Report, columns 440-41W, on dentistry, under what circumstances NHS walk-in centres provide dental treatment.

Rosie Winterton: National health service walk-in centres are expected to provide a specified range of services for minor illness and injury. Primary care trusts are free to decide their local walk-in centre should provide additional services. However, the Department is not aware of any walk-in centres that provide dental treatment.

Dentistry

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that access to NHS dental healthcare is available in those practices where contracted units of dental activity have been reached.

Rosie Winterton: The annual service levels reflected in contracts for providing national health service primary dental care services are based on the numbers of courses of treatment undertaken during the 12-month reference period, October 2004 to September 2005, but with the opportunity to carry out less complex courses of treatment than under the previous fee-per-item system of remuneration. The new contracts are thereby designed to support dentists in planning their patterns of work over the course of the year, while at the same time spending more time with patients and having more time for preventative work.
	If a dental practice delivers these annual service levels over a significantly shorter period, it is for the local primary care trust to review the reasons for this with the practice concerned and agree appropriate action.

Dentistry

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental practices in  (a) Gloucestershire and  (b) Forest of Dean constituency have (i) reached and (ii) exceeded their contracted units of dental activity since the implementation of the new dental contract.

Rosie Winterton: The Department publishes regular information on the number of commissioned units of dental activity. The Information Centre for health and social care publishes information each quarter on the number of units of dental activity delivered and processed by the Business Services Authority during the year to date. The latest published information which covers the period from April 2006 to September 2006, is made available at England, strategic health authority and primary care trust (PCT) level. Information is not available by individual dental practice.
	The latest published information shows that the former West Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, had not reached or exceeded its commissioned annual number of units of dental activity by 30 September.
	 Sources:
	Commissioned units of dental activity: Department of Health form DCO1 September return.
	Delivered and processed units of dental activity. The Information Centre for health and social care.
	NHS Business Services Authority

Departmental Communications

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) marketing officers,  (b) communication officers,  (c) press officers and  (d) promotional officers are employed in her Department; and what estimate she has made of expenditure on communications for the Department is in 2006-07 on (i) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (ii) other  (A) press officers,  (B) special advisers and  (C) staff.

Ivan Lewis: In October 2006 there were 51 marketing staff and press officers employed by the communications directorate. A total of 70 staff were employed in other functions within the directorate. The total external expenditure by the directorate for 2005-06 was £54.6 million excluding any staff-related costs.

Departmental Staff

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of staff employed in her Department were registered disabled in each year since 2001.

Ivan Lewis: Data on the disabled status of civil servants, for the years requested, are available in the Library and on the Civil Service website.
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications/xls/report_2005/table_p.xls
	for data as at April 2005,
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications/xls/disability_apr04_4nov04.xls
	for data as at April 2004, and
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/archive/index.asp
	for previous reporting periods
	Declaration of a disability is voluntary.

Drug Analysis

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 442W, on drug analysis, 
	(1)  whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has performed an August update for its adverse drug reaction data; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) intends to begin the three-monthly cycles of updates for its adverse drug reaction data published on its website;
	(3)  when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) upgrade of the drug safety monitoring database and data reporting systems will be completed.

Andy Burnham: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently implementing a major upgrade of the drug safety monitoring database and data reporting systems as part of the Sentinel programme. The full implementation of the Sentinel programme will transform all the MHRA regulatory responsibilities from paper-based systems to electronic working, both internally within the MHRA and externally with its stakeholders.
	The first phase of the new drug safety monitoring module of the Sentinel programme was introduced in May 2006, ahead of the introduction of full electronic reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by marketing authorisation holders in accordance with agreed international standards. Initial technical and data issues are being resolved within a planned programme and in liaison with the pharmaceutical industry.
	The MHRA continues to provide anonymised aggregated adverse drug reaction data on request in response to specific enquiries from health professionals, the public and pharmaceutical companies. Publication of drug analysis prints on the MHRA website will be resumed as soon as current technical and data issues have been resolved.

Emergency Treatment

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the audited times were for  (a) call to needle and  (b) call to door times for thrombolysis in case of acute myocardial infarction in the constituencies of (i) Hemel Hempstead, (ii) Watford, (iii) St. Albans and (iv) South West Hertfordshire in each month since 12 December 2005.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is available quarterly in a format which allows measurement of the percentage of cases delivered to hospital within 30 minutes (call to door percentage) and also the percentage of people treated within 60 minutes of calling for help (call to needle percentage). The following table shows the latest data available for the former Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority area.
	
		
			  Percentage 
			  Period covered  Call to door  Call to needle 
			 January to March 2006 18 55 
			 April to June 2006 14 51 
			 July to September 2006 17 55 
			  Source:  Myocardial Infarction national audit project (MINAP). 
		
	
	Officials have advised that information relating to individual hospitals performance for call to door and call to needle is available from local trusts.

Emergency Treatment

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the East of England Ambulance Trust has to assist clinicians at Watford general hospital to meet the three hour targets for thrombolysis of non-haemorrhagic strokes.

Rosie Winterton: It is expected that local services should agree local protocols for dealing with issues of capacity. Development of trust procedures should involve discussions with local national health service providers to ensure targets are met.

Emergency Treatment

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact on deaths from stroke and acute myocardial infarction of ambulance response times in excess of 10 minutes; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: There are no data collected nationally on deaths from suspected stroke or myocardial infarction as a result of ambulance response times in excess of 10 minutes.
	999 ambulance calls are prioritised based on information obtained from the caller. The national response time requirement for calls classified as category A (immediately life-threatening) is that 75 per cent. of patients should receive an emergency response within eight minutes. In 2005-06 over 1.2 million category A calls received a response within the eight-minute standard. For stroke the emphasis on a rapid response, where there are no life threatening signs and symptoms, is to facilitate immediate scanning and thrombolysis for suitable patients.

Information Prescription

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 352W, on the information prescription, in which geographical areas she expects trials to take place.

Rosie Winterton: Discussions are still under way to determine the locations and a decision is expected by late December. The locations will be placed in the Library when they are known.

Long-term Conditions

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any primary care trusts have been referred to the Healthcare Commission for a failure to implement  (a) the recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance on the epilepsies and  (b) the quality requirements of the national service framework for long-term conditions.

Andy Burnham: Healthcare organisations are not referred to the Healthcare Commission for non compliance with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance or the quality requirements of national service frameworks.
	All organisations providing national health service care are expected to be compliant with the 24 core standards set out by the Department in "Standards for Better Health" published in July 2004. Core standard 5a states that
	"they conform to NICE technology appraisals and, where it is available, take into account nationally agreed guidance when planning and delivering treatment and care".
	In addition, organisations are expected to make progress against the 13 developmental standards in "Standards for Better Health". Developmental standard 2a states that organisations should
	"conform to nationally agreed best practice, particularly as defined in national service frameworks, NICE guidance, national plans and agreed national guidance on service delivery".
	The Healthcare Commission assesses NHS trusts, including primary care trusts (PCT), against the core standards as part of its annual health check assessment process. Results from the first annual health check assessment, in 2005-06, are available at:
	http://annualhealthcheckratings.healthcarecommission.org.uk/annualhealthcheckratings.cfm
	There is a statutory direction requiring the NHS to provide funding within three months from the date of publication of NICE technology appraisal guidance. PCTs were last reminded of these obligations in a statement on the implementation of NICE guidance which the Minister of State for NHS Reform (Lord Warner) made in June 2004.

Lung Cancer

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support the Government is providing for research into lung cancer screening.

Rosie Winterton: The main agency through which the Government support biomedical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Innovation. The MRC is currently funding only a limited amount of research relating to lung cancer screening, largely due to a lack of high quality proposals in this area.
	A working group of the National Cancer Research Institute(1) has recently published a report on lung cancer research(2). The report can be found at www.ncri.org.uk. Among other things, the report discusses the feasibility of funding research on screening for lung cancer. The institute's follow-up work on the report will identify what further information is needed to help determine whether a screening trial should be conducted.
	Building on its recent international symposium on biomarkers, the MRC has made £10 million available to support proposals for world-class, innovative projects to evaluate potential biomarkers in diagnosis of disease (including cancer), disease heterogeneity and underlying mechanisms or response to interventions. A recent call for proposals aims to stimulate translational research proposals that bridge the gap between discovery and application of new biomarkers, with an emphasis on partnerships with industry. The MRC will announce the successful proposals in March 2007.
	(1) The institute was established in April 2001. It is a partnership between government, the voluntary sector and the private sector. Its primary purpose is to maximise the patient benefit that accrues from cancer research in the UK through coordination of effort and joint planning.
	(2) Lung Cancer Research in the UK 2006, Report of the NCRI Strategic Planning Group on Lung Cancer, October 2006.

Lung Cancer

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to increase public awareness of the early symptoms of  (a) lung and  (b) other cancers.

Rosie Winterton: The Department is working in collaboration with charities and others with an interest in raising public awareness of the signs and symptoms of lung cancer to promote key messages about when to seek help throughout Lung Cancer Awareness Month November, and will be reviewing the impact of the various events early in 2007.
	For other cancers, the Department has collaborated with the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action to fund a pilot public awareness programme on the prostate and its function, which took place in October and is now being independently evaluated. The Department also funds a small number of voluntary sector organisations to test out approaches to raising awareness in hard to reach groups. Pilot work has been undertaken in 2005-06 to raise awareness of mouth cancer, in a project with Cancer Research UK. Further pilot work is also planned with the Improvement Foundation's healthy communities collaborative, raising awareness of breast, bowel and lung cancers in deprived communities.

Maternity Care

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for the national perinatal epidemiology unit investigation into maternity care; whether the terms of reference for the investigation have been set out; who has been appointed to undertake the investigation; and whether it will be taking submissions from the general public and interested hon. Members.

Ivan Lewis: The Department has commissioned the national perinatal epidemiology unit to undertake a three-year research study to evaluate maternity units in England. This project started on 1 September 2006 and will run until 31 August 2009. It will address the seven topic areas stated in the commissioning brief, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The lead researcher is Professor Peter Brocklehurst at University of Oxford. The research design incorporates appropriate processes for engaging and involving stakeholders. It will not take unsolicited submissions.

Maternity Care

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which maternity units she has identified as being at risk of closure.

Ivan Lewis: This information is not held centrally.
	It is for the local national health service, in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to plan, develop and improve services for local people. Local solutions will meet the needs of local patients and communities. It is about providing the best and safest care for patients in the right setting and the right location. However, change will only happen after full public consultation with local people.

Memory Clinics

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many memory clinics there are in England; and what assessment she has made of these services since the issuing of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance on drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

Ivan Lewis: Durham university's older people's mental health service mapping undertaken between November 2005 and June 2006 shows that there are 131 memory assessment services in England.
	No assessment has been made of memory clinics services since the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence published its guidance on drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children are being treated on adult acute mental wards.

Ivan Lewis: The Department collects information on bed days spent by children and young people on adult wards rather than the number of such patients. The latest information covers the three month period from 1 July to 30 September 2006 and is set out in the following table:
	
		
			   Number 
			 Hospital occupied bed days on adult psychiatric wards of patients aged under 16, on admission, under the care of a psychiatric specialist 25 
			 Hospital occupied bed days on adult psychiatric wards of patients aged 16 or 17, on admission, under the care of a psychiatric specialist 4,780 
			  Source: Local delivery plan return data, Department of Health, 2006

Ministerial Visits

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS hospitals  (a) she and  (b) each of her Ministers have visited since 6 May 2005.

Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health (Ms Hewitt) and each of her Ministers have visited the following national health service hospitals since 6 May 2005.
	
		
			   valign="bottom" align="left" Secretary of State/Minister  Hospital 
			  2005   
			 12 May Secretary of State for Health Glenfield Hospital 
			 25 May Jane Kennedy St Thomas Hospital 
			 26 May Secretary of State for Health Hinchingbrooke Hospital 
			 31 May Secretary of State for Health Ipswich Hospital 
			 31 May Secretary of State for Health Kelling Hospital 
			 31 May Secretary of State for Health Queen Elizabeth Hospital 
			 7 June Secretary of State for Health Scarborough District General Hospital 
			 21 June Secretary of State for Health Pinderfield's Hospital 
			 21 June Secretary of State for Health Dewsbury and District Hospital 
			 21 June Secretary of State for Health Pontefract General Infirmary 
			 27 June Secretary of State for Health St Bartholomew's Hospital 
			 28 June Secretary of State for Health Withington Community Hospital 
			 29 June Rosie Winterton Nottingham City Hospital 
			 30 June Jane Kennedy The Royal London Hospital 
			 4 July Liam Byrne Whittington Hospital 
			 5 July Secretary of State for Health Homerton Hospital 
			 7 July Jane Kennedy Royal Liverpool Hospital 
			 15 July Rosie Winterton Castle Hill Hospital 
			 19 July Jane Kennedy Hinckley and Bosworth Community Hospital 
			 20 July Jane Kennedy Hammersmith Hospital 
			 22 July Rosie Winterton Mexborough Montague Hospital 
			 27 July Rosie Winterton St. Mary's Hospital 
			 31 August Lord Warner Stepping Hill Hospital 
			 8 September Rosie Winterton York Hospital 
			 11 October Rosie Winterton St. Thomas' Hospital 
			 18 October Secretary of State for Health Highgate Mental Health Centre 
			 18 October Secretary of State for Health The Royal Free Hospital 
			 24 October Liam Byrne Whiston Hospital 
			 24 October Liam Byrne Northern General Hospital 
			 28 October Liam Byrne The Royal Bolton Hospital 
			 31 October Liam Byrne Nottingham City Hospital 
			 3 November Lord Warner Hillingdon Hospital 
			 7 November Liam Byrne Leeds General Infirmary 
			 9 November Rosie Winterton St Bartholomew's Hospital 
			 14 November Liam Byrne Alder Hey Children's Hospital 
			 14 November Liam Byrne Liverpool Women's Hospital 
			 15 November Secretary of State for Health Newham General Hospital 
			 21 November Liam Byrne Christie Hospital 
			 24 November Jane Kennedy Chelsea and Westminster Hospital 
			 28 November Liam Byrne Great Ormond Street Hospital 
			 28 November Liam Byrne Sheffield Teaching Hospital 
			 12 December Liam Byrne Royal Victoria Infirmary 
			 13 December Rosie Winterton Broadmoor Hospital 
			 24 December Jane Kennedy The Royal Liverpool University Hospital 
			 25 December Liam Byrne Birmingham Heartlands Hospital 
			 26 December Rosie Winterton James Paget Hospital 
			 30 December Lord Warner King's College Hospital 
			
			  2006   
			 12 January Rosie Winterton Christie Hospital 
			 13 January Rosie Winterton Tickhill Road Hospital 
			 25 January Lord Warner Moorfields Eye Hospital 
			 30 January Lord Warner Beckenham Hospital 
			 2 February Jane Kennedy Queen Elizabeth Hospital 
			 20 February Rosie Winterton James Paget Hospital 
			 2 March Rosie Winterton South Essex Partnership NHS Trust 
			 2 March Rosie Winterton Basildon Hospital 
			 21 March Secretary of State for Health Evelina Children's Hospital 
			 28 March Secretary of State for Health The Princess Alexandra Hospital 
			 30 March Rosie Winterton Hollins Park Hospital 
			 4 April Secretary of State for Health Broadgreen Hospital 
			 4 April Secretary of State for Health Liverpool Royal Infirmary 
			 4 April Secretary of State for Health Bucknall Hospital 
			 8 May Lord Warner Barnet & Chase Farm Hospital 
			 11 May Caroline Flint Crawley Hospital 
			 11 May Rosie Winterton University College Hospital 
			 1 June Secretary of State for Health Lewisham Hospital 
			 1 June Andy Burham Princess Royal Hospital 
			 1 June Andy Burham Royal Berkshire Hospital 
			 1 June Andy Burham Salisbury Hospital 
			 1 June Andy Burham Yeovil District Hospital 
			 2 June Secretary of State for Health Whittington Hospital 
			 14 June Caroline Flint Medway Hospital Trust 
			 16 June Secretary of State for Health Selly Oak Hospital 
			 20 June Lord Warner St Bartholomew's Hospital 
			 26 June Secretary of State for Health Norwich Community Hospital 
			 26 June Secretary of State for Health Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital 
			 26 June Secretary of State for Health Cambridge Mental Health Trust 
			 27 June Secretary of State for Health Prospect Park Hospital 
			 28 June Andy Burnham Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich 
			 3 July Andy Burnham Tameside General Hospital 
			 4 July Lord Warner Edgware Community Hospital 
			 11 July Andy Burnham Luton and Dunstable Hospital 
			 14 July Secretary of State for Health Mill View Hospital 
			 14 July Secretary of State for Health Royal Sussex University Hospital 
			 21 July Andy Burnham Merrick House Mental Health Trust 
			 24 July Andy Burnham Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital 
			 25 July Secretary of State for Health Cirencester Hospital 
			 25 July Secretary of State for Health Royal Bath University Hospital 
			 26 July Lord Warner St Georges Hospital Stafford 
			 26 July Andy Burnham Taunton and Somerset Hospital 
			 27 July Andy Burnham Peterborough District Hospital 
			 18 August Andy Burnham Salford Royal Foundation Trust 
			 7 September Secretary of State for Health James Cook University Hospital 
			 11 September Lord Warner Nottingham City Hospital 
			 11 September Secretary of State for Health Kings Mill Hospital 
			 12 September Andy Burnham Newark Hospital 
			 12 September Rosie Winterton Derby City Hospital 
			 12 September Lord Warner Sherwood Forest NHS Trust 
			 12 September Lord Warner Mansfield Community Hospital 
			 12 September Secretary of State for Health Nottingham University Hospital 
			 21 September Ivan Lewis Southmead Hospital 
			 4 October Secretary of State for Health Bedford Hospital 
			 10 October Rosie Winterton Oxleas NHS FT Hospital 
			 12 October Rosie Winterton St Thomas7 Hospital 
			 16 October Lord Warner Edgware Community Hospital 
			 18 October Rosie Winterton Oldchurch Hospital 
			 18 October Secretary of State for Health Harrogate NHS FT Hospital 
			 20 October Lord Warner Barnsley NHS FT Hospital 
			 30 October Andy Burnham Luton and Dunstable Hospital 
			 6 November Caroline Flint Walsall Hospital NHS Trust 
			 13 November Rosie Winterton North Tyneside General Hospital 
			 14 November Rosie Winterton Wythenshaw Hospital 
			 14 November Secretary of State for Health Royal Cornwall Hospital 
			 27 November Ivan Lewis Birmingham Heartlands Hospital

NHS Cancer Plan

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to  (a) update,  (b) extend and  (c) replace the NHS cancer plan; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, announced plans for a new cancer reform strategy on Thursday 30 November.
	The new cancer reform strategy will build on the progress of the national health service cancer plan published in 2000 by spreading best practice and recommending what more needs to be done by cancer networks and the NHS to improve clinical outcomes, drive up quality and increase value for money.
	The new strategy will recognise the new challenges and opportunities facing cancer; the number of new cases is rising, as are patients' expectations. New medical technologies and more effective drugs are being developed. It will focus on reform rather than spending commitments—giving patients more choice, strengthening commissioning and making the new NHS levers work for cancer.
	The National Director for Cancer, Professor Mike Richards has been tasked with taking forward the strategy. He will work with doctors, nurses, cancer charities and all those with an interest in cancer to develop a strategy that fits the needs of tomorrow's cancer services.

NHS Expenditure

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to table 2 on page Ev 3 of her Department's memorandum to the Health Committee inquiry Public Expenditure on Health and Personal Social Services 2006, HC 1692-i, what discussions she has had with  (a) NHS Finance and  (b) Welsh Assembly Government on how the figures on net NHS spend per head in Wales were calculated; and whether the figures for net NHS spend per head in Wales and net NHS spend per head in England are directly comparable.

Andy Burnham: National health service expenditure data and population estimates for Wales have been provided directly by the Welsh Assembly Government.
	The expenditure figure for Wales excludes spend on departmental administration, and so for consistency, the NHS expenditure for England was adjusted to exclude expenditure on departmental administration.
	The expenditure per head calculation is discussed and confirmed with officials from the Welsh Assembly Government.

NHS Reform

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis was for the statement by the Minister of State for NHS Reform of 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1290, on the NHS, that since 1997 there are  (a) 404,000 extra staff,  (b) 122,000 more doctors,  (c) 61,000 more allied health professionals and  (d) over 16,000 more radiographers and physiotherapists in the NHS.

Rosie Winterton: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement made on 14 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1654, by my noble Friend, the Minister of State for NHS Reform (Lord Warner).

Pandemic Influenza

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when an exercise was last conducted on the response to an outbreak of pandemic influenza; and what lessons were learnt from the exercise.

Rosie Winterton: The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the United Kingdom to be at the forefront of preparedness internationally and we are continuing to consider what other measures could be taken to further improve our preparedness for a pandemic influenza. The Department and the national health service have already undertaken several exercises in preparation for a possible influenza pandemic. Contingency plans are regularly tested, reviewed and updated in the light of changing domestic and international circumstances.
	In June 2006, a Department of Health led national exercise, "Exercise Shared Goal", was undertaken to test the UK's planned response to an influenza pandemic.
	The key lessons learned from the Exercise Shared Goal include:
	A requirement for further clarification and definition of the dividing line between WHO pandemic alert level phases 4 and 5, and phases 5 and 6;
	recognition by the participating Departments and agencies of the need to update existing procedures for information management;
	to further develop the roles and communication channels of key agencies to optimise their joint working;
	international bodies such as United Nations or European Union as well as bilateral contacts with key international partners would have been a valuable addition to the exercise;
	testing of scientific information flows and access to expert advice was successful and highlighted a number of areas where greater co-ordination is required both within and between UK Departments and with the devolved Administrations in order to ensure consistency of presentation and interpretation of advice;
	further development required at the regional level:
	more clarity is required as to when strategic co-ordinating groups might be established locally;
	the need for flexibility in planned response in order to reflect the potential for variation in the pandemic virus, and
	further development required at the national level:
	the agreement of clear guidance on the language to be used in describing the type of risk faced by UK at various national and international alert levels, in particular the shift from avian influenza or H5N1 to pandemic (i.e. human) influenza;
	the provision of generic travel advice to UK citizens during WHO pandemic phase 5 to be revisited.
	This exercise will be followed up with another exercise in 2007, Exercise Winter Willow, which will exercise procedures following the declaration of WHO alert level 6.
	The regional and local exercises on pandemic influenza are ongoing. The last regional off the shelf exercise, Exercise Cold Play, took place in London on 15 November 2006. This exercise was led by the Health Protection Agency as part of the Department of Health funded exercise programme, and in conjunction with NHS London. These exercises will be followed up with further exercises in 2007 and is the first part of a series of three exercises.

Social Workers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adult social workers have been employed by local authorities in each of the last 10 years expressed as  (a) headcount and  (b) whole time equivalents.

Ivan Lewis: The following table shows the number of social workers employed by local authorities in each of the last 10 years. It should be noted, that job roles and titles have changed, therefore some separate job categories have been combined (detailed in the note below).
	
		
			  Social ca=re employment in local authorities, England, 1996-2005 
			   Children's social workers  Adults' social workers  Field social workers  
			   Number  Percentage change  Number  Percentage change  Number  Percentage change  FTE 
			 1996 17,374 — 20,407 — 37,781 — 33,926 
			 1997 18,701 7.6 20,053 -1.7 38,754 2.6 34,753 
			 1998 18,878 0.9 20,388 1.7 39,266 1.3 35,180 
			 1999 19,213 1.8 20,676 1.4 39,889 1.6 35,822 
			 2000 19,716 2.6 21,484 3.9 41,200 3.3 36,922 
			 2001 20,300 3.0 22,070 2.7 42,370 2.8 37,730 
			 2002 21,385 5.3 22,015 -0.2 43,400 2.4 38,705 
			 2003 22,825 6.7 22,335 1.5 45,160 4.1 40,535 
			 2004 22,870 0.2 23,100 3.4 45,970 1.8 41,256 
			 2005 24,340 6.4 22,870 -1.0 47,210 2.7 42,330 
			  Note: Separate job categories introduced which have been combined above (field social workers, care managers, senior social workers and team leaders). These relate to the following lines in the DH's SSDS001: Children's: 2.30-2.33, 2.35 Adults': 2.40-2.43, 2.50-2.52, 2.54, 2.55, 2.60-2.63, 2.70-2.73, 2.80-2.83  Source: Department of Health staffing return SSDS001 (employment)